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THE  BUSINESS  LIBRARY 


THE 

BUSINESS  LIBRARY 

WHAT  IT  IS  AND  WHAT  IT  DOES 


By 
LOUISE  B.  KRAUSE 

Librarian 
H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company 


Technical  Publishing  Company 

San  Francisco 

1919 


CJopyright 

Technical    Publishing  Company 

November   15 

1919 


To 

H.  M.  BYLLESBY  AND   COMPANY 

whose  generous  cooperation  has  made 

possible  the  successful  application 

of  Library  Science  to  the 

business  of  their 

organization 


rnfjr^  './i  ,^ic. 


414935 


PREFACE 

This  handbook  has  been  written  with  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  brief  comprehensive  infomiation  to 
the  business  man  on  the  subject  of  the  business 
hbrary  as  an  indispensable  earning  factor  in  the 
conduct  of  business  enterprises.  It  aims  to  tell  how 
to  organize  and  maintain  a  business  library,  what 
to  do  in  order  to  get  the  best  results  from  it,  and  to 
show  by  concrete  illustrations,  gathered  from  the 
experience  of  firms  maintaining  library  service,  what 
the  business  library  is  worth  as  a  financial  asset. 

The  subject  matter  is  not  designed  to  set  forth 
the  work  of  any  one  class  of  business  libraries,  but 
is  a  composite  study  of  many.  It  records  business 
library  facts  as  observed  by  the  author  during  ten 
years  of  service  as  a  business  librarian,  and  as  such, 
may  be  also  of  value  to  librarians  contemplating  the 
undertaking  of  business  library  work. 

The  references  given  at  the  conclusion  of  each 
chapter  have  been  selected  from  a  large  mass  of 
printed  material  on  the  subject,  on  the  basis  of  prac- 
tical supplemental  reading  only  and  are  not  designed 
to  be  exhaustive  reference  lists. 

The  author  makes  grateful  acknowledgment  to 
her  Library  School  class-mate,  Renee  B.  Stern,  now 
Editor  of  "The  Woman's  Weekly,"  for  most  helpful 
advice,  and  to  her  friend,  Virginia  Fairfax,  Libra- 
rian, Carnation  Milk  Products  Company,  Chicago,  for 
generous  criticism  and  correction  of  the  manuscript. 

L.  B.  K. 
October  1,  1919. 
Chicago,  Illinois. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I     THE    ORGANIZATION    OF    THE    BUSINESS 
LIBRARY   7 

II     THE   SERVICE   RENDERED   BY  THE   BUSI- 
NESS LIBRARY 23 

III  PERIODICALS  —  HOW   TO    USE   AND   HOW 
TO  FILE  THEM 30 

IV  GOVERNMENT    DOCUMENTS    AND    THE 
BUSINESS   LIBRARY .* 50 

V    TRADE    CATALOGS,    PHOTOGRAPHS    AND 

LANTERN    SLIDES 59 

VI     CLASSIFICATION   AND   CATALOGING   IN 

THE  BUSINESS  LIBRARY 70 

VII     MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT  FOR  THE  BUSI- 
NESS  LIBRARY 80 

VIII    REFERENCE   BOOKS    FOR   THE   BUSINESS 

LIBRARY - 91 

IX     THE  ESSENTIAL  QUALIFICATIONS  OF  THE 

BUSINESS   LIBRARIAN 105 

INDEX  117 


THE   BUSINESS   LIBRARY 

WHAT  IT  IS  AND  WHAT  IT  DOES 


CHAPTER  I 

THE    ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  BUSINESS  LIBRARY 

What  is  meant  by  the  word  library?  Twenty- 
five  years  ago  it  could  be  accurately  defined  as  a  col- 
lection of  books  on  a  series  of  shelves,  and  although 
this  old  definition  still  partially  describes  its  present 
form,  the  true  interpretation  of  what  a  business 
library  really  is,  can  be  stated  best  by  saying  that 
it  is  a  genuine  service  department,  whose  chief  busi- 
ness is  to  give  information  to  the  members  of  a  firm 
on  subjects  of  vital  importance  in  the  conduct  of 
their  business. 

The  business  library  is  not  limited  to  a  collection 
of  books,  but  contains  information  in  any  form, 
namely,  periodicals,  pamphlets,  trade  catalogs,  pho- 
'tographs,  lantern  slides,  and  also  manuscript  notes 
which  are  accumulated  in  connection  with  the  spe- 
cific work  of  an  organization.  The  business  library 
even  goes  so  far  in  its  service  as  to  supply  informa- 
tion which  is  obtained  by  "word  of  mouth'*  in  ad- 
vance of  its  appearance  on  the  printed  page. 


8        ;  ;  ;  ':    :  \  JTHE  ^  ]l3y.^P KS8     LIBRARY 

The  Evolution  of  the  Business  Library 

Before  the  business  library  came  into  being  as 
a  special  department  of  business  organizations,  and 
before  public  libraries  were  making  a  specialty  of 
collecting  information  on  business  subjects,  the  busi- 
ness man  picked  up  his  supply  of  information 
in  haphazard  fashion.  He  was  told  by  a  business 
acquaintance,  often  a  salesman  of  a  special  line 
Who  was  doing  business  with  him,  of  some  trade 
literature  or  government  documents  in  which  he 
would  find  useful  information,  or  he  discovered  ref- 
erences to  valuable  books,  pamphlets  or  documents 
in  his  casual  reading  of  newspapers  and  periodicals. 
As  a  last  resort,  in  cases  of  emergency  he  telephoned 
to  various  business  organizations  whom  he  thought 

.  could  tell,  out  of  their  experience,  what  he  wished 

\to  know. 

Business  has,  however,  grown  too  large  in  its 
multiplicity  of  interests  for  the  business  man  to  get 
his  information  in  so  desultory  and  unorganized  a 
fashion,  for  the  business  man  must  be  a  good  fore- 
caster and  interpreter  of  conditions,  not  by  means 
of  guesswork  but  by  the  aid  of  obtainable  facts,  and 
he  must  study  and  analyze  a  large  number  of  related 
subjects.  The  success  of  many  of  our  richest  indus- 
tries is  due  in  large  measure  to  this  particular  ele- 
ment, the  wise  forecasting  of  conditions  to  come,  for, 
as  a  recent  periodical  article  stated,  "business  is  a 
procession  of  problems;  big  or  little,  any  business 
must  keep  moving  ahead,  finding  its  way  past  one 
pitfall  and  obstacle  after  another.  In  another  sense 
business  is  a  matter  of  vision;  the  foresight  that 


ORGANIZATION  9 

looks  long  ahead  to  new  opportunity  and  to  the  ways 
and  means  of  realizing  it,  is  an  essential  in  the 
growth  and  progress  that  brings  success." 

Business  men  have  long  since  recognized  that 
rule  of  thumb  methods  have  passed  away,  and  that 
they  not  only  can  not  learn  by  experience  exclu- 
sively, but  that  the  utilization  of  the  knowledge  of 
other  men  recorded  in  reliable  business  data  is  of 
the  highest  value. 

Present  day  competition  makes  it  imperative 
also  that  every  business  man  knows  as  much  as 
his  competitor,  and  he  must  have  therefore  not 
something  on  a  subject  but  everj^thing  of  value  on  a 
subject,  and  it  must  be  exact  and  authoritative 
information  which  he  can  trust.  Business  data  must 
also  be  kept  strictly  up  to  date,  which  under  present- 
day  conditions  is  no  easy  task,  as  information  is  out 
of  date  almost  before  it  is  off  the  press. 

The  business  man  not  only  needs  to  collect 
accurate,  exhaustive,  up  to  date  information,  but  he 
needs  to  have  it  so  well  organized  that,  at  a  moment's 
notice,  he  can  put  his  fingers  upon  the  exact 
information  he  desires.  The  systematic  organization 
of  information  into  quick  working  files  means  an 
enormous  saving  of  time  and  money,  and  in  large 
business  organizations  the  employment  of  a  trained 
librarian  to  do  this  work  is  a  most  valuable  asset. 

Check  up  if  you  can,  the  amount  of  time  wasted 
annually  by  the  average  business  man  through  lack 
of  having  the  information  he  desires  immediately 
at  his  service.    Waste  of  time  means  waste  of  money. 


10  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

It  is  not  worth  while  having  an  expert,  whose  time 
may  be  worth  anywhere  from  twenty-five  to  one 
hundred  dollars  a  day,  waste  any  of  it  in  trying  to 
fmd  information  in  government  documents,  which  he 
is  not  particularly  adept  in  locating,  because  he  lacks 
a  working  knowledge  of  the  enormous  range  of  gov- 
ernment publications. 

The  writer  is  acquainted  with  an  engineering 
firm  of  national  reputation,  which  has  made  a  collec- 
tion of  library  material,  which  has  been  cared  for, 
or  rather  much  neglected  by  a  stenographer  of  the 
company,  who  has  no  time  nor  library  experience  to 
give  to  its  adequate  administration.  This  firm  when 
urged  to  introduce  organized  library  service,  and 
thus  make  their  collection  effective,  stated  that  their 
library  w^as  not  used  enough  by  their  organization 
to  warrant  the  expense.  Investigation  proved,  how- 
ever, that  one  of  their  expert  chemists,  whose 
time  was  valued  more  per  week  than  that  of  a  trained 
librarian  would  be  per  month,  was  making  a  system- 
atic business  of  hunting  his  own  library  material, 
and  had  listed  his  references  in  many  closely  written 
notes,  in  order  to  be  able  to  locate  the  material  again 
if  he  should  need  it.  The  value  of  the  time  the 
chemist  spent  on  his  research  would  have  covered  a 
librarian's  salary  and  made  it  possible  for  him  to 
give  more  time  to  his  firm  on  the  problems  which 
his  expert  knowledge  was  able  to  solve. 

(General  Principles  of  Organization 

The  essential  principles  in  organizing  a  success- 
ful  business  library  can  be  briefly  stated  as  follows: 


ORGANIZATION  11 

1.  Centralization  of  material  within  the 
business  organization. 

2.  Coordination  of  the  business  library 
with  the  facilities  of  the  public  and  spe- 
cial libraries  of  the  city  in  which  the 
business  library  is  located. 

1.  Centralization  of  Library  Material 

The  first  step  in  establishing  a  library  in  a  busi- 
ness organization  is  the  centralization  of  all  the 
printed  material  available  in  its  different  offices  or 
departments.  This  is  exactly  what  is  not  done  in  a 
large  number  of  business  houses.  Books,  pamphlets 
and  other  valuable  information  are  scattered  among 
the  various  members  of  the  organization,  who  treat 
them  as  personal  property  and  preserve  them  in 
their  private  desks  as  carefully  as  a  squirrel  hides 
his  store  of  good  nuts.  In  many  business  organiza- 
tions the  policy  of  the  employes  in  regard  to  infor- 
mation seems  to  be,  to  hold  on  to  everything  of  value 
for  one's  personal  use,  regardless  of  how  much  value 
the  information  might  be  to  another  member  of  the 
organization,  and  also  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the 
material  has  been  paid  for  out  of  the  company's 
funds. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  in  defense  of  the 
practice  of  not  putting  information  into  a  central 
library,  that  it  is  not  always  based  upon  thoughtless 
or  selfish  habits,  but  upon  lack  of  confidence;  there 
is  a  fear  that  if  information  passes  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  man   into    a  central  library,  that    when  he 


12  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

wishes  to  use  it  again,  in  a  hurry,  that  he  may  not 
be  able  to  locate  it  promptly.  This  feeling  is  not 
without  reasonable  foundation,  as  it  is  based  on 
the  irritating  experience  which  some  business  men 
have  had  in  using  central  correspondence  files  which, 
in  many  offices,  are  poorly  administered  and  cannot 
produce  desired  information  promptly.  The  business 
library,  when  administered  by  a  qualified  librarian, 
not  only  can  produce  all  filed  material  promptly,  but 
in  one  large  corporation,  known  to  the  writer,  has 
so  successfully  handled  material  that  the  officers  and 
employes  send  their  information  to  the  library,  as 
a  safer  and  more  reliable  place  to  keep  it  for  quick 
reference,  than  the  drawers  of  their  own  desks. 

Centralization  of  library  material  gives  all  the 
departments  the  benefit  of  everything  the  company 
has  collected  on  a  special  subject,  and  often  makes 
it  unnecessary  to  duplicate  information  for  the  use 
of  several  departm.ents.  Centralization  makes  it  pos- 
sible also  to  have  in  one  place  a  complete  record  of 
all  library  material  owned  by  the  company  which 
can  be  loaned  as  small  working  collections  to  any 
department. 

The  fact  that  a  central  library  department  has 
on  record  what  material  is  temporarily  or  perma- 
nently kept  in  all  the  departments,  makes  it  possible 
also  for  it  to  act  as  a  clearing  house  between  all  de- 
partments in  locating  desired  information.  This 
principle  does  not  apply  of  course  to  corporations  of 
such  magnitude  that  their  activities  comprise  sev- 
eral distinct  lines  of  business;  in  such  a  case  each 
department  would  require  a  specialized  collection  of 


ORGANIZATION  13 

information,  which  would  become  the  library  of  that 
particular  branch  of  the  industry. 

It  should  be  kept  clearly  in  mind  that  the  busi- 
ness library  has  a  distinct  province  from  correspond- 
ence files,  which  primarily  take  care  of  the  letters 
accumulated  in  the  transaction  of  business.  The  busi- 
ness library  is  in  no  wise  concerned  with  such  rec- 
ords. Its  function  is  not  to  take  care  of  the  records 
which  are  created  by  the  activities  of  the  company, 
but  to  collect  and  bring  into  the  company  all  possible 
knowledge  and  information  of  value  from  a  large 
variety  of  outside  sources. 

The  business  library  also  has  a  distinct  province 
of  activity  apart  from  the  statistical  department  of 
an  organization.  The  function  of  the  latter  is  to 
correlate  and  interpret  data  which  are  created  either 
by  the  activities  of  the  organization  or  obtained  from 
outside  sources,  because  of  value  in  relation  to  the 
various  projects  of  the  organization.  The  function 
of  the  library  in  relation  to  the  statistical  depart- 
ment is  to  supply  the  printed  information  which  that 
department  needs  in  its  work  of  correlating  and  in- 
terpreting data. 

Many  statistical  departments  have  made  the 
mistake  of  endeavoring  to  collect  and  preserve  ma- 
terial for  their  work,  which  particularly  belongs  in 
the  business  library,  with  the  result  that  they  have 
cumbersome  files  of  heterogeneous  information, 
badly  classified  and  cataloged,  and  which  do  not 
yield,  either  quickly  or  accurately,  information  when 
desired.  The  files  of  the  statistical  department  should 
cover  only  the  data  which  are  the  result  of  the  par- 


14  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

ticular  activities  of  the  company,  together  with  valu- 
able original  records,  which  are  neither  correspond- 
ence nor  library  material. 

2.  Coordination  of  the  Business  Library  with 
Public  Libraries 

After  the  resources  for  information  which  exist 
within  the  business  organization  have  been  ade- 
quately centralized,  the  next  important  step  is  to 
coordinate  these  resources  with  all  other  existing 
facilities  of  the  city  in  which  the  business  firm  is 
located.  There  should  be  a  thorough  survey  of  these 
libraries  in  order  to  ascertain  as  far  as  pos- 
sible the  content  and  availability  of  their  re- 
sources. This  is  an  important  factor  in  the  creation 
of  a  business  library,  when  on^-considers  the  prob- 
lem of  shelving  much  material,  within  the  more 
or  less  limited  space  occupied  by  a  business  or- 
ganization. Floor  space  in  skyscrapers  is  too  valu- 
able to  be  used  as  a  mere  storehouse  for  printed  ma- 
terial used  only  on  rare  occasions,  and  there  is  also 
the  added  expense  of  a  staff  of  workers  to  care  for  a 
large  collection.  The  business  library  must,  there- 
fore, be  considered  solely  as  a  working  laboratory, 
and  care  taken  not  to  include  in  it  material  which 
will  be  seldom  used,  particularly  in  cities  where  busi- 
ness organizations  congregate  and  where  are  lo- 
cated large  public  libraries  having  excellent  re- 
sources which  can  be  used  to  supplement  the  "work- 
ing laboratory"  collection  of  the  business  organiza- 
tion. 


ORGANIZATION  15 

This  principle  will  not  apply,  however,  to  those 
business  libraries  which  are  maintained  at  the  head- 
quarters of  national  associations.  Such  libraries 
must  collect  everything  on  their  subjects,  and  be 
prepared  to  be  a  central  bureau  of  information  on 
their  specialties,  for  their  membership  throughout 
the  United  States.  For  example,  the  libraries  of  the 
National  Safety  Council  and  the  Portland  Cement 
Association,  located  in  Chicago. 

This  policy  of  coordination  was  expressed  in 
the  following  words,  by  a  large  corporation  several 
years  ago  when  it  organized  its  library:  "We  will 
keep  our  library  down  as  far  as  possible  to  a  small 
working  collection,  and  our  librarian  shall  be  a  go- 
between  us  and  the  other  libraries  of  the  city  when 
we  want  information  not  available  in  our  own  col- 
lection." Thus  the  busy  man  of  affairs  is  able  to 
keep  in  touch,  through  his  librarian,  as  proxy,  with 
many  avenues  of  helpfulness,  which  would  be  closed 
to  him  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  he  had  been  far- 
sighted  enough  to  employ  a  librarian  to  act  for  him 
in  these  matters  of  detail. 

Public  library  facilities,  while  they  supplement 
can  never  be  a  sulbstitute  for  a  library  within  a  busi- 
ness organization,  for  different  groups  of  business 
people  who  are  vitally  interested  in  one  particular 
subject,  or  more  often  in  only  one  phase  of  a  sub- 
ject, will  naturally  collect  and  know  more  about  that 
subject  than  a  general  library  serving  a  thousand 
and  one  interests  can  be  expected  to  do. 

The  business  librarian  who  is  given  the  confi- 
dence of  the  officers  of  his  organization,  gets  satur- 


16  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

ated  with  a  knowledge  of  the  business  of  the  organ- 
ization and  is  able  to  sense  in  advance  what  informa- 
tion will  be  needed,  and  will  be  prepared  as  far  as 
possible  for  the  emergency  when  it  comes. 

All  librarians  of  public  libraries  will  undoubt- 
edly agree  to  the  statement  that  they  are  not  in  a 
position  to  act  as  confidential  library  adviser  to  rival 
business  corporations.  The  Public  Library  must  deal 
impartially  with  all  inquirers  and  cannot  give  pre- 
cedence to  any  inquirer  simply  because  he  is  in  a 
hurry.  Every  man  must  wait  his  turn  because  the 
needs  of  other  inquirers  are  equally  important  with 
his. 

If  the  Utopian  state  should  ever  arrive  when 
our  public  libraries  have  all  the  money  necessary  to 
meet  the  every  information  need  of  the  community, 
the  argument  that  the  public  library  should  serve 
the  interests  of  business  men,  who  are  tax  payers, 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for 
them  to  have  libraries  within  their  business  organi- 
zations, can  be  answered  by  a  parallel  suggesting  that 
the  public  library  should  so  serve  all  the  interests 
of  the  public  that  no  one  need  have  a  library  in  his 
own  home.  A  business  organization  desires  to  make 
its  own  selection  of  material,  on  the  basis  of  its 
needs  and  tastes;  it  wishes  to  have  this  material 
close  at  hand  without  any  borrowing  restrictions, 
so  that  it  can  be  used  quickly,  without  loss  of  time, 
and  without  the  limitations  which  would  be  imposed 
if  it  were  the  property  of  some  one  else,  and  required 
particular  care  to  keep  it  intact,  for  the  business 


ORGANIZATION  17 

man  often  wishes  to  clip  or  give  away  the  printed 
information  in  his  possession. 

The  business  Kbrary  is,  however,  not  antago- 
nistic to  the  public  library  at  any  point.  On  the 
contrary,  the  business  library  must  coordinate  its 
resources  with  those  of  the  public  library  and  work 
in  harmony  with  it. 

The  large  business  organization  which  can  af- 
ford to  employ  a  librarian,  and  the  small  business 
firm  which  cannot,  will  find  a  wealth  of  helpful  ma- 
terial in  the  public  libraries  of  their  vicinity. 

Many  of  the  smaller  public  libraries  which  are 
not  large  enough  to  maintain  special  business  de- 
partments are  giving  most  excellent  service  to  busi- 
ness men.  A  number  of  the  large  public  libraries  of 
the  country  are  making  a  specialty  of  serving  busi- 
ness needs  through  departments  organized  particu- 
larly to  serve  business  men.  Some  of  these  are  the 
Division  of  Economics  and  Documents  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library,  the  Business  Men's  Branch  of 
the  Free  Public  Library  of  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
and  the  Industrial  Department  of  the  Los  Angeles 
Public  Library.  The  John  Crerar  Library  of  Chi- 
cago is  a  free  reference  library  covering  sociology 
and  natural  and  applied  science,  which  cannot  be  ex- 
celled by  any  other  library  collection  in  the  United 
States  in  the  facilities  which  it  offers  to  business 
men.  Every  business  organization  should  get  ac- 
quainted with  the  public  library  of  its  city  and  as- 
certain what  that  library  is  able  to  do  for  it. 


18  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

The  Cost  and  Value  of  the  Business  Library 

The  cost  of  maintaining  a  business  library  is  in 
no  sense  comparable  with  its  value;  for  the  help 
which  a  business  library  may  give  in  a  single  in- 
stance is  often  of  sufficient  value  to  offset  its  cost 
of  maintenance  for  a  whole  year.  For  example,  a 
business  firm  had  a  law  suit  in  a  distant  city  and 
sent  one  of  its  employes  to  give  expert  testimony 
in  the  case.  This  employe  found  as  the  hearings 
in  the  case  progressed,  that  he  could  strengthen  his 
testimony  if  he  had  at  hand  figures  showing  the 
market  price  of  lead  for  the  past  ten  years.  There 
was  no  time  to  spare  in  obtaining  these  data.  He 
sent  a  telegram  to  the  home  office,  which  was  re- 
ceived at  11:30  A.  M.  saying  that  he  would  call 
them  by  long  distance  telephone  at  noon  and  to  have 
the  figures  ready.  The  head  of  the  department  to 
whom  the  message  was  addressed,  with  some  per- 
turbation, appealed  at  once  to  the  librarian  of  the 
company,  who  was  able  in  ten  minutes  to  produce  a 
table  giving  a  summary  of  the  prices  desired,  which 
had  been  printed  in  a  technical  journal.  The  com- 
pany won  the  law  suit  and  in  comparison  with  the 
large  amount  of  money  saved,  the  salary  of  the 
trained  librarian  who  knew  how  to  meet  the  emerg- 
ency, was  a  very  small  item. 

No  two  business  libraries  are  comparable  as  to 
cost  of  maintenance.  Each  must  allow  for  financing 
on  the  basis  of  its  individual  needs  and  the  money  it 
can  afford  to  spend. 

If  a  business  firm  owns  the  building  which  it 
occupies  it  does  not  have  to  consider  the  rental  of 


ORGANIZATION  Id 

floor  space  for  the  library.  If  it  has  a  liberal  policy 
of  advertising  in  the  best  technical  or  trade  journals, 
it  will  need  to  spend  very  little  on  periodical  subscrip- 
tions, as  it  will  receive  copies  free  on  account  of 
advertising.  If  it  is  a  liberal  user  of  the  publications 
of  the  United  States  Government,  it  will  find  they 
cost  little  or  nothing,  and  in  any  case  the  amount 
spent  by  business  libraries  for  information  special 
to  a  particular  industry  is  never  very  large,  because 
often  the  most  valuable  data  cost  practically  nothing 
to  secure. 

Mechanical  equipment,  which  will  be  discussed 
in  chapter  seven,  is  largely  the  initial  expense,  and 
the  amount  of  money  to  be  spent  each  year  for  addi- 
tions to  the  original  equipment  will  be  quite  small. 
The  principal  annual  expenses  in  maintaining  a  busi- 
ness library  are  the  salaries  of  the  librarian,  and 
assistants  if  required,  and  the  additional  expense  of 
stenographic  and  office  boy  service. 

The  great  mistake  made  by  some  business  firms 
in  maintaining  library  service  has  been  the  employ- 
ment of  inadequately  trained  librarians  who  do  not 
produce  high  grade  results.  It  is  this  lack  of  library 
education  and  experience,  on  the  part  of  a  number  of 
so-called  business  librarians,  which  has  been  a  hin- 
drance to  the  recognition  of  what  the  business 
library  really  is  and  what  it  can  do.  The  wi-iter  saw, 
some  time  ago,  the  sorry  spectacle  of  one  of  the 
largest  corporations  in  the  country  trying  to  inaugu- 
rate library  service  under  the  direction  of  a  f ourteen- 
dollar-a-week  file  clerk,  who  had  not  a  single  educa- 
tional requirement  necessary  for  the  success  of  the 


20  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

undertaking.  Such  firms  generally  proclaim  business 
library  work  a  failure,  instead  of  admitting  they 
have  made  a  wrong  start  and  that  they  should  have 
employed  a  high  grade  trained  librarian. 

Many  firms  having  well  organized  correspond- 
ence files,  which  are  giving  satisfactory  service,  have 
conceived  the  idea  of  adding  to  their  established 
filing  department,  and  to  the  duties  of  their  head 
file  clerk,  the  library  service  which  they  judge  their 
organization  demands.  They  fail  to  appreciate  the 
fact  that  a  filing  department,  while  it  has  some 
mechanical  technique  in  common  with  an  organized 
library,  has  an  entirely  different  purpose,  and  does 
not  require  on  the  part  of  those  in  charge,  educa- 
tional qualifications  at  all  comparable  to  those  re- 
quired of  a  librarian  who  must  have  not  merely  a 
large  knowledge  of  library  technique,  but  also  must 
know  books,  and  have  a  knowledge  of  a  broad  range 
of  sources,  from  which  adequate  information  can  be 
drawn  when  any  problem  arises;  for  the  business 
librarian  must  be  a  thinker  as  well  as  a  worker  and 
not  a  mere  clerical  machine.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
trained  librarian  is  competent  to  supervise  corres- 
pondence and  any  other  kind  of  files  if  the  situation 
demands  it.  The  essential  qualifications  for  success- 
ful business  librarianship  are  stated  in  the  last 
chapter. 

In  conclusion,  it  should  be  said,  that  in  establish- 
ing library  service,  a  business  organization  must  be 
willing  to  give  such  service  a  reasonable  length  of 
time  to  grow  into  the  work  of  the  organization.  A 
wisely  selected  collection  of  material,  adapted  to  the 


ORGANIZATION  21 

needs  of  the  business,  and  thoroughly  organized  to 
give  quick  and  accurate  results,  should  be  tested 
just  as  a  piece  of  machinery  is  tested,  namely,  set  up 
the  apparatus,  put  it  in  full  operation  under  compe- 
tent supervision,  and  in  the  case  of  the  business 
library,  the  verdict  cannot  but  conclusively  be — 
"it  works." 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 

List  of  special  libraries    in    United  States  and  Canada   (in 
American  library  annual  1916-17  p.  378-408). 

Carr,  B.  E. 

Formation  of  a  financial  library.     Special  libraries  June 
1919,  p.  125-27. 

Day,  M.  B. 

Portland    cement    association    library.     Library  journal 
Jan.  1919,  p.  27-28. 

Glenn,  M.  R. 

Library  of  American  bankers  association.     Library  jour- 
nal April  1917,  p.  283-84. 

Johnston,  R.  H. 

Bureau  of  railway  economics  library.     Special  libraries 
June  1918,  p.  129-31. 

Krause,  L.  B. 

The  public  utility  library.    Journal  of  electricity  Dec.  15, 
1918,  p.  556-57. 

Greenman,  E.  D. 

The  functions  of  the  industrial  library.   Journal  of  indus- 
trial and  engineering  chemistry  June  1919,  p.  584. 

Macfarlane,  J.  J. 

Philadelphia  commercial  museum.    Library  journal  April 
1917,  p.  278-79. 

Nystrom,  P.  H. 

The  relation  of  the  public  library  to  the  private  business 
libraries.    Special  libraries  Feb.  1918,  p.  35-37. 
Same  article  Library  journal  March  1918,  p.  154-57. 


22  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

Parmelee,  J.  H. 

The  utilization  of  statistics  in  business.  American  sta- 
tistical association  quarterly  publication  June  1917, 
p.  565-76. 

Purinton,  E.  E. 

Building  an  ofRce  library.  Independent  Dec.  16,  1918, 
p.  214. 

Rife,  R.  S. 

Functions  of  the  library  of  a  banking  institution;  pam- 
phlet printed  by  Guaranty  Trust  Co.,  New  York  City, 
1919. 

Spencer,  Florence 

Financial  library  of  the  National  city  bank  of  New  York. 
Library  journal  April  1917,  p.  282-83. 

Spencer,  Florence 

What  a  public  library  cannot  do  for  the  business  man. 
Special  libraries  Oct.  1917,  p.  177-18. 


CHAPTER  n 

THE  SERVICE  RENDERED  BY  THE 
BUSINESS  LIBRARY 


The  service  rendered  by  the  business  library  is 
intensive  rather  than  extensive.  The  business  man 
is  not  interested  in  making  a  good  library  showing 
in  regard  to  the  quantity  of  material  on  the  shelves 
or  in  the  files  of  his  library,  but  he  is  vitally  inter- 
ested in  the  quality  of  the  material;  he  has  just  two 
objects  in  view,  he  wants  specific  information  and 
he  wants  quick,  accurate,  comprehensive  service. 
The  organized  business  library  steps  in  to  render 
this  service  by  knowing  what  information  to  get, 
how  to  get  it,  how  to  keep  it  up  to  date,  how  to  file 
it  and  how  to  apply  it  effectively  to  business  prob- 
lems. 

If  the  subject  which  the  business  man  is  investi- 
gating has  a  scientific  basis,  the  library  puts  him  in 
touch  with  the  best  authorities  on  that  science  and 
the  standard  practices  which  it  maintains.  If  the 
business  man  is  investigating  a  new  enterprise,  or 
a  banker  is  considering  a  loan,  he  must  make  a  care- 
ful survey  of  all  the  factors  which  enter  into  it,  in 
order  to  make  a  decision  as  to  its  stability  and  prob- 
able financial  success.  Such  problems  demand  a 
large  amount  of  information  which  can  be  furnished 
by  the  business  library,  as  it  is  prepared  to  furnish 
data  giving  sources  of  different  kinds  of  raw  ma- 


24  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

terials,  manufactured  products  on  the  market  and 
cost  of  manufacturing,  the  possible  extent  of  the 
market  for  a  competing  product,  cost  of  labor,  coal 
and  data  on  certain  sections  of  the  country  as  good 
business  centers,  based  on  a  study  of  population, 
post  office  receipts,  bank  clearings  and  transporta- 
tion facilities. 

If  shipping  to  foreign  countries  is  contemplated 
the  business  library  will  furnish  information  on 
modes  of  packing,  effects  of  climate  on  goods,  trans- 
portation, customs  duties,  foreign  credits,  and  sim- 
ilar items.  Thus  the  business  library  is  prepared  to 
select,  arrange  and  put  into  form  for  ready  use,  in- 
formation ranging  from  methods  of  rock  tunneling, 
to  the  consideration  of  the  advisability  of  putting  a 
new  commercial  fertilizer  on  the  market. 

'The  Americas,"  published  by  the  National  City 
Bank,  New  York  City,  contains  in  its  December  1917 
issue,  an  article  entitled,  *'One  Feature  of  German 
Organization  in  Engineering  and  Foreign  Business," 
the  contents  of  which  bear  directly  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  information  as  an  indispensable  asset  in  the 
prosecution  of  successful  business. 

The  article  states  that  industrial  corporations  in  Ger- 
many before  the  war  employed  an  officer  called  an  Economic 
Director,  who,  "in  the  plan  of  organization  of  his  company, 
is  attached  to  the  office  of  the  President,  or  is  an  appendage 
of  the  Board  of  Directors.  He  has  to  organize  complete  infor- 
mation from  various  sources,  and  his  authority  is  sufficient  to 
organize  this  well.  He  obtains  statistical  information,  for- 
eign and  domestic  newspapers  and  periodicals,  and  the  output 
of  various  bureaus  of  news  is  regularly  received  by  him. 

"His  business  is  to  keep  his  Executive  informed  on  the 
instant  of  every  development  in  many  parts  of  the  world  that 
will  mean  a  change  of  cost  of  production  or  a  change  in  de- 


THE     SERVICE    -RENDERED  25 

mand  for  the  company's  products.  He  must  know  what  is 
going  on  in  the  regions  where  the  company's  manufacturing 
materials  originate.  He  must  keep  his  eye  upon  conditions 
affecting  production,  price  and  transportation.  He  must  not 
miss  any  new  source  of  supply,  or  any  coming  diminution  of 
old  sources.  On  the  other  hand,  he  must  follow  every  devel- 
opment, political,  social  or  economic  that  means  an  increase 
or  a  falling-off  in  the  demand  for  particular  kinds  of  machin- 
ery. If  there  is  anything  doing  anywhere  that  is  significant 
of  a  call  for  more  sugar  machinery,  or  a  drop  in  the  demand 
for  textile  machinery,  in  this  particular  man's  business,  he 
must  judge  its  full  value  and  advise  his  board  of  it. 

"It  is  said  of  a  man  who  was  economic  adviser  to  a 
German  corporation  that  manufactured  materials  for  railway 
construction  and  equipment  that  he  had  not  only  organized 
his  supplies  of  information  of  what  was  going  on  over  the 
world  so  that  he  reported  to  his  board  every  tender  for  sup- 
plies from  every  part  of  the  world,  but  he  was  expected  to 
analyze  general  developments  everyw^here  so  thoroughly,  as 
to  predict  in  advance  the  regions  vvhere  new  railways  would 
soon  be  built,  or  extensions  made.  His  work,  it  is  said,  fre- 
quently resulted  in  his  company's  bringing  about,  in  direct  or 
indirect  ways,  the  promotion  of  the  new  transportation  enter- 
prises he  predicted.  It  is  now  believed  that  this  idea  of  defi- 
nite organization  of  economic  information  and  intelligence 
has  been  carried  out  in  order  to  apply  to  the  after-war  busi- 
ness situation  by  Germany." 

The  American  Business  Library  is  a  step  in  the 
direction  of  helping  to  do  for  American  business 
what  this  "German  Economic  Director'*  was  doing 
for  business  in  Germany  and  it  is  more  than  time 
that  American  business  interests  use  the  business 
hbrary  to  its  utmost  capacity. 

The  Library  and  the  Publicity  Department 

One  of  the  important  departments  in  modern 
business  organizations  served  by  the  business  libra- 
ry, is  the  publicity  department  which  is  the  outcome 
of  the  recognition  of  the  dependence  of  any  business 


26  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

upon  the  public's  understanding  and  appreciation  of 
what  it  has  to  offer,  in  order  to  successfully  carry  on 
its  work,  whether  that  be  a  manufactured  product 
or  the  service  of  a  public  utility.  In  this  day  of 
economic  investigation  and  criticism,  it  is  vital  to 
success  that  industries  exploit  their  work  and  prod- 
ucts clearly  and  logically,  not  only  as  a  means  of 
advertising  but  also  to  vnn  and  hold  that  all-impor- 
tant asset  known  as  public  good-will. 

The  publicity  department  strives  to  make  the 
public  understand  the  organization  and  its  work  and 
has  charge  of  preparing  direct  advertising,  for  daily 
papers  and  periodicals,  and  in  many  utility  corpora- 
tions prepares  copy  for  the  financing  and  marketing 
of  securities. 

A  live  publicity  department  cannot  do  its  work 
without  ample  library  resources  as  its  needs  are 
encyclopaedic,  for  it  is  constantly  preparing  copy 
which  calls  for  the  most  accurate  and  comprehensive 
data  and  it  must  keep  up  to  date  on  what  is  currently 
issued  in  the  lines  of  business  in  which  it  is  partic- 
ularly interested.  Library  service  is  so  indispen- 
sable in  publicity  work  that  in  a  number  of  cases  the 
library  has  been  organized  in  the  business  house 
as  a  part  of  the  work  of  the  publicity  department. 

Assisting  the  Executive 

The  business  library  is  also  a  great  service  to 
executives  because  the  heads  of  business  organiza- 
tions today  are  concerned  not  only  with  the  partic- 
ular business  of  their  own  office,  but  with  many 
economic  and  public  affairs  for  the  betterment  of  the 


THE     SERVICE     RENDERED  27 

community  and  the  nation.  The  work  of  the  modern 
business  man,  as  expressed  by  a  recent  technical 
periodical,  ^'because  of  the  constant  multiplication  of 
problems  to  be  settled  and  the  great  number  of  regu- 
lating agencies,  is  steadily  growing  more  important. 
The  successful  business  man  must  be  a  thinker  and 
a  man  of  affairs;  he  appears  before  Congressional 
Committees  and  before  state  and  federal  commis- 
sions ;  he  must  know  whereof  he  speaks,  and  he  must 
know  principles  as  well  as  facts,  history  as  well  as 
present  conditions."  In  the  midst  of  varied  and 
large  responsibilities,  he  knows  he  can  not  depend 
upon  his  own  personal  reading  and  study  to  keep  all 
the  important  facts  and  figures  which  he  needs  at 
his  finger  tips,  for  the  successful  executive  must  not 
burden  himself  with  too  much  detail. 

He  therefore  turns  to  his  librarian,  who  knows 
his  personal  point  of  view  and  his  needs,  and  who  is 
as  necessary  to  him  as  his  secretary.  Sometimes  the 
head  of  a  business  organization  appeals  to  an  assist- 
ant officer  to  give  him  the  data  he  requires,  and  the 
assistant  officer  turns  to  another  one,  and  he  in  turn 
goes  to  the  library ;  the  fact  remains  that  sooner  or 
later  the  request  comes  down  the  line  to  the 
librarian. 

Making  the  Best  Use  of  the  Library 

There  are  several  types  of  men  with  whom  the 
business  librarian  has  to  deal  in  doing  research  on 
business  problems.  One  type  of  man  who  uses  the 
business  library  is  the  one  who  comes  in  occasionally 
and  browses  among  the  books  without  communicat- 


28  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

ing  to  the  librarian  in  charge  what  subject  matter 
he  is  looking  for.  This  type  of  man  does  not  pur- 
posely mean  to  be  secretive,  but  he  does  not  know 
how  to  use  the  service  of  the  library  and  the  libra- 
rian which  are  at  his  disposal.  Often  he  turns  away 
from  his  perusal  of  an  encyclopedia  with  a  disap- 
pointed look,  and  in  one  case  when  the  librarian 
asked  what  he  was  looking  for,  replied  that  he  was 
trying  to  find  the  address  of  Mills  College  but  that 
it  did  not  seem  to  be  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica. 
Had  he  told  the  librarian  at  the  start  what  he 
wanted,  the  addi'ess  could  have  been  given  him  from 
another  reference  book  in  about  one  minute's  time. 

Another  type  of  man  with  whom  the  business 
librarian  has  to  deal,  is  the  one  who  conceals  his 
specific  object  when  he  asks  for  information,  and 
does  not  therefore  make  it  possible  for  the  librarian 
to  procure  the  information  desired  in  its  most  simple 
and  direct  form.  For  example,  an  engineer  once 
asked  for  descriptive  periodical  articles  dealing  with 
the  construction  and  equipment  of  some  large  hotels. 
The  librarian,  of  course,  thought  that  what  he  had  in 
mind  was  to  make  a  study  of  the  equipment,  whereas 
all  he  wanted  to  get  out  of  these  articles  was  the 
names  of  firms  who  had  installed  certain  mechanical 
devices.  This  information  could  have  been  collected 
much  more  quickly  than  in  the  time  it  took  for  the 
librarian  to  make  a  complete  list  of  satisfactory  de- 
scriptions of  the  kinds  of  buildings  for  which  he 
asked. 

The  type  of  man  who  uses  the  business  library 
most  effectively  is  the  one  who  takes  his  librarian 


THE     SERVICE     RENDERED  29 

into  full  confidence  as  to  what  he  is  doing,  and  what 
he  wants  to  do,  and  gives  the  librarian  not  only  the 
opportunity  to  produce  what  he  has  asked  for,  but 
also  to  make  helpful  suggestions  as  to  material  which 
he  possibly  has  not  thought  of  in  connection  with 
his  problem.  The  business  man  who  thus  directs 
and  uses  his  trained  librarian  and  his  specialized 
collection  gets  the  service  which  counts  and  has 
annexed  an  indispensable  asset  to  the  earning  power 
of  his  organization. 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 
Cameron,  W.  H. 

What  does  library  service  do  for  you  in  your  business? 

Public  libraries  June  1918,  p.  256-57. 
Gourvitch,  P.  P. 

An  organized  commercial  laboratory.     Youroveta  review 

(165  Broadway,  New  York  City)  March  1919,  p.  82. 
Hosmer,  H.  R. 

Some  axioms  of  service  in  the  use  and  abuse  of  special 

libraries.    Journal  of  industrial  &  engineering  chemistry, 

June  1919,  p.  582-83. 
Lewis,  St.  Elmo 

Value  of  the  specialized  library  for  the  business  man. 

Special  libraries  May  1913,  p.  69-71. 
Loomis,  M.  M. 

Libraries  that  pay.  Independent  June  26,  1913,  p.  1436-38. 
Nystrom,  P.  H. 

The  business  library  as  an  investment.     Library  journal 

Nov.  1917,  p.  857-62. 

Same    article    National    efficiency    quarterly  May  1918, 

p.  29-38. 


CHAPTER   III 

PERIODICALS   IN   THE   BUSINESS   LIBRARY- 
HOW  TO  USE  AND  HOW  TO  FILE  THEM 

The  Value  of  Periodicals 

Periodicals  are  the  most  fruitful  source  of 
information  for  any  business,  and  there  is  periodical 
literature  of  value  being  issued  constantly  on  every 
conceivable  subject.  Every  industry  and  profession 
has  its  journals  and  in  them  will  be  found  the  latest 
and  best  information. 

The  value  of  periodicals  in  a  business  organiza- 
tion was  very  ably  stated  some  time  ago  by  the 
secretary  of  an  electrical  association,  and  as  this 
testimony  is  not  from  a  librarian  but  from  a  prac- 
tical business  man,  it  seems  worth  while  to  quote  as 
follows : 

"The  technical  or  trade  journal  of  today  is  the  livest 
and  most  *up-to-now'  assistant  a  business  man  has.  It  is 
carefully  edited,  well-printed,  fully  illustrated  and  thoroughly 
indexed  both  as  to  literary  matter  and  advertisements.  It  is 
the  'always  ready  reference'  of  the  minute,  and  the  official, 
head  of  a  department,  or  even  workman,  who  does  not  use  it 
to  its  fullest  capacity,  is  neglecting  one  of  his  best  friends. 
I  have  been  surprised  to  find  how  many  of  the  larger  com- 
panies are  actually  stingy  when  it  comes  to  paying  out  money 
for  subscriptions  to  their  trade  and  technical  journals.  They 
talk  about  one,  two  or  three  dollars  per  year  as  if  it  were 
that  many  hundreds;  they  look  at  the  expenditure  as  if  it 
were  an  expense  instead  of  an  investment,  which,  properly 
handled,  will  bring  good  returns. 

"In  no  other  way  can  any  business  man,  no  matter  how 
high  or  low  his  position,  keep  so  fully  abreast  of  the  times 
in  his  business  as  by  early  and  careful  perusal  of  his  trade 


PERIODICALS  31 

and  technical  pei'iodical,  from  its  front  to  its  back  cover,  and 
from  no  other  source  can  he  obtain  the  'immediately  useful' 
so  well  as  he  can  from  a  well  filled  and  indexed  present  vol- 
ume of  those  same  publications." 

'Trinters'    Ink"    has   also   stated   the   case   as 

follows : 

"The  manufacturer,  desirous  of  keeping  his  finger  on 
the  pulse  at  Washington,  who  will  spend  ten  dollars,  or  fifteen 
dollars,  or  twenty  dollars  a  year  for  business  papers  and 
other  periodicals  that  specialize  with  respect  to  business 
news  from  the  national  capital,  can  be  pretty  well  assured 
that  he  has  every  tip  that  could  come  to  him  via  the  intelli- 
gence office,  that  asks  a  fee  of  fifty  or  one  hundred  dollars 
per  annum.  Indeed,,  it  has  happened,  not  once  but  dozens  of 
times  this  past  year  or  two  that  business  journals,  etc., 
carried  information  days  and  even  weeks  before  it  was  sent 
out  in  the  mimeographed  'letters'  and  'bulletins'  which  the 
former  bureaus  distributed,  marked  'confidential'  and  'not  for 
publication.'  " 

The  Contents  of  Periodicals 

Not  only  do  periodicals  contain  lengthy  articles 
on  special  subjects,  but  every  item  in  them  from 
cover  to  cover  is  of  value ;  for  example,  in  engineer- 
ing periodicals  the  business  library  is  greatly  aided 
by  the  current  news  notes  on  books,  pamphlets, 
meetings  and  people;  information  on  state  and  fed- 
eral legislation;  prices  of  materials  and  second-hand 
material  for  sale  or  wanted  to  purchase,  new  con- 
struction notes,  new  devices  and  best  makes  of  stand- 
ard supplies. 

The  brief  notes  found  in  current  periodicals, 
announcing  the  publication  of  trade  pamphlets,  re- 
ports of  state  boards,  special  committees,  private 
corporations  and  bulletins  published  by  universities, 
lectures  delivered  at  colleges  and  papers  presented 


32  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

at  state  meetings  of  associations,  are  most  valuable 
guides  in  collecting  pamphlets,  which  although  in 
many  cases  may  be  had  for  the  asking,  represent  a 
collection  of  valuable  data  which  can  not  be  replaced 
by  the  expenditure  of  any  amount  of  money  and  yet 
most  of  it  costs  only  a  polite  letter  of  request. 

Aids  in  Selection  of  Periodicals 

The  business  man  or  the  business  librarian  will 
first  of  all  desire  to  select  the  periodicals  that  best 
cover  the  needs  of  his  organization.  If  he  wishes  to 
ascertain  the  titles  of  periodicals  on  special  subjects 
in  order  to  obtain  sample  copies  for  examination,  or 
if  he  has  the  title  and  wishes  to  find  the  frequency 
of  issue,  the  place  of  publication  and  subscription 
price,  there  are  several  books  that  give  such  informa- 
tion and  which  should  be  found  in  the  public  library 
of  his  city.  It  is  advisable  also  for  him  to  see  a  list 
of  all  periodicals  which  are  on  file  at  his  public 
library  with  a  view  to  examining  those  which  may 
be  suited  to  his  immediate  needs.  The  following 
books  will  give  information  about  periodicals  on  spe- 
cial subjects. 

Ayer  &  Son's  American  Newspaper  Annual  Directory,  published 
by  N.    W.   Ayer,    Philadelphia,    $5.00. 

1600  Business  Books,  published  by  H.  W.  Wilson  Company,  New 
York,    1917,    price    $1.50. 

Severance  Guide  to  the  Current  Periodicals  and  Serials  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada.  A  new  edition  will  be  published  shortly  by 
George  Wahr,  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  price  $5.00.  This  new  edi- 
tion will  contain  a  list  of  House  Organs  published  in  the  United 
States.  A  recent  list  of  House  Organs  may  be  found  in  Printers' 
Ink,    August   29,    1918,    and    subsequent   issues. 

A  list  of  periodicals  published  by  the  United  States  Government  can 
be  obtained  free  of  charge  from  Superintendent  of  Documents, 
Washington,   D.  C. 


PERIODICALS 


33 


The  Checking  of  Periodicals 

The  care  of  periodicals  is  one  of  the  important 
pieces  of  work  which  consumes  a  large  portion  of  the 
business  librarian's  time.    All  periodicals  received  by 


VW     WVWv'     V'VVyVV'  VVIi'l'iVt^    v'wvp 
'-       |/      »^V'Vv'«^i'     ff^i/t^VWf     wfc'I^VvV     K.ic^-*^*^ 


Sample  of  a  daily  and  monthly  periodical  checking  card.  Weekly  period- 
icals are  checked  on  the  cards  ruled  for  daily  issues.  The  date  of  the  daily 
check  card  is  loiled  for  "Ordered  of,"  "Price,"  "Date"  and  "Bill  date." 
They  should  be  filed  alphabetically  and  kept  in  a  file  box  on  the  librarian's 
desk   for  quick   reference. 


the  business  library  are  stamped,  as  soon  as  the  mail 
is  opened,  with  the  word  "Library"  and  the  name  of 
the  firm,  and  checked  on  monthly  or  weekly  card 
records,  size  3  by  5  inches,  specially  ruled  for  the 
purpose  and  obtainable  from  library  supply  firms. 
This  card  record  enables  the  librarian  to  know  if  all 


34 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


PERIODICALS  35 

copies  to  date  have  been  received  and  on  the  back 
of  the  card  also  provides  a  record  of  expirations  and 
renewals  of  subscriptions. 

The  Indexing  of  Periodicals 

After  the  periodicals  are  checked,  the  librarian 
should  go  through  them  rapidly,  keeping  well  in 
mind  all  the  topics  of  particular  interest  to  the 
organization,  and  also  special  requests  from  indi- 
viduals for  the  latest  information  on  subjects,  which 
they  have  designated  as  being  of  present  value  to 
them.  It  is  a  good  plan  also  to  ask  heads  of  depart- 
ments who  read  periodicals  regularly  every  week,  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  librarian  to  any  special 
articles  which  they  think  valuable  and  to  which  they 
might  wish  to  refer  again.  This  strengthens  the 
librarian's  reading  and  makes  doubly  sure  that  no 
information  of  importance  is  overlooked. 

All  articles  or  items  of  importance  are  assigned 
a  subject  heading  (which  will  be  discussed  in  the 
chapter  on  cataloging)  and  a  card  is  made  for  the 
subject  card  index  to  periodical  material.  The 
trained  librarian  will  know  how  to  discriminate  and 
reduce  this  indexing  to  a  minimum. 

Some  one  may  ask  at  this  point  why  it  is  neces- 
sary for  the  librarian  to  do  subject  indexing  to 
periodical  articles  when  there  are  good  printed  in- 
dexes to  them,  such  as  Readers'  Guide  to  Periodical 
Literature,  Industrial  Arts  Index,  and  the  Agricul- 
tural Index,  published  by  The  H.  W.  Wilson  Com- 
pany, New  York  City  (samples  and  prices  upon  ap- 
plication) and  in  addition  The  Engineering  Index,  re- 


36  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

cently  acquired  by  the  American  Society  of  Mechan- 
ical Engineers. and  published  monthly  in  the  Journal 
of  that  Society.  There  are  several  reasons  why  sub- 
ject indexing  must  be  done  by  the  librarian;  first 
because  these  printed  indexes  do  not  index  many  of 
the  periodicals  which  are  of  importance  to  the  busi- 
ness library  and  second,  because  in  the  periodicals 
which  are  covered  by  these  indexes,  there  are  many 
items  of  importance  to  business  firms  which  are  too 
short  to  be  entered  in  the  general  printed  indexes. 
The  time  element  is  also  an  important  factor  in  the 
business  library,  as  the  subject  card  index  is  made 
at  once  and  immediately  ready  for  reference,  while 
the  printed  indexes  are  of  necessity  never  strictly  up 
to  date.  For  example,  an  engineering  firm  was  desir- 
ous of  keeping  up  to  date  on  all  increases  in  gas  and 
electric  rates  throughout  the  country,  due  to  the 
mcreased  cost  of  production,  on  account  of  higher 
prices  of  materials.  Various  journals  reported  such 
items  each  week,  sometimes  in  not  more  than  a  dozen 
lines.  In  such  a  case  the  librarian's  minute  reading 
and  quick  indexing  was  invaluable,  and  gave  a  serv- 
ice not  to  be  expected  of  the  printed  index. 

A  word  should  be  said,  however,  at  this  point  in 
regard  to  the  value  of  printed  indexes,  for  example 
the  "Industrial  Arts  Index."  Periodicals  are  sealed 
books  without  indexes,  and  printed  indexes  are  inval- 
uable working  tools,  first,  because  no  business  libra- 
rian will  attempt  the  impossible  task  of  making  a 
subject  card  for  every  article  of  value  in  current 
periodicals,  and  second,  because  a  live  business 
organization  in  these    days  of    sudden   changes  in 


PERIODICALS  37 

economic  conditions  cannot  possibly  foresee  every 
subject  in  which  it  may  be  interested.  When  these 
unexpected  subjects  arise  for  which  the  business 
hbrarian  has  not  made  provision,  the  printed  indexes 
come  to  the  rescue  and  serve  the  need  most  admir- 
ably. The  indexes  to  separate  volumes  of  individual 
periodicals,  which  the  publishers  issue  at  the  com- 
pletion of  each  volume,  and  in  many  cases  do  not 
send  unless  requested  to  do  so,  are  not  of  great  value 
because,  with  few  exceptions,  the  subject  indexing  is 
poor.  Many  of  them  invert  the  title  of  the  article 
in  order  to  enter  it  under  the  most  striking  word 
which  it  contains,  without  consideration  of  its  real 
subject  content,  and  without  further  consideration  of 
the  three,  four  or  more  subjects  on  which  the  article 
is  very  likely  to  contain  valuable  information. 

The  Circulation  of  Periodicals 

After  the  periodicals  have  been  read  and  subject 
indexed  by  the  librarian,  as  necessity  requires,  and 
this  should  be  done  immediately  on  mail  delivery, 
they  are  sent  to  the  desks  of  the  members  of  the 
organization  who  are  most  vitally  interested  in  any 
special  information  which  they  contain.  Methods  of 
circulation  vary  in  different  types  of  business  libra- 
ries; some  business  libraries  which  serve  a  large 
constituency  prefer  to  make  typewritten  or  mimeo- 
graphed lists  of  subject  references  to  articles  in  the 
periodicals  received  during  the  week,  and  circulate 
these  lists  throughout  the  organization,  asking  the 
men  to  send  to  the  library  for  any  article  they  desire 
to  read.    This  method  does  not  suit  busy  executives 


38  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

who  have  no  time  to  read  a  list  and  make  a  selection, 
and  who  wish  the  material  itself  put  in  front  of 
them. 

Some  business  librarians  route  their  periodicals, 
attaching  a  slip  with  a  list  of  names  indicating  the 
next  person  to  whom  the  periodical  is  to  be  sent, 
when  a  reader  is  finished  with  it.  Other  business 
librarians  send  the  individual  periodicals  direct  to 
one  man  onlj^  with  a  slip  attached  calling  his  atten- 
tion to  the  article  of  special  interest  to  him.  As  soon 
as  he  is  through  with  the  periodical,  he  puts  it  in  his 
outgoing  basket  and  it  is  returned  to  the  librarian, 
who  sends  it  to  a  second  man,  with  a  special  note  of 
the  contents  for  him.  This  method  seems  much  more 
desirable  than  to  route  periodicals,  because  they 
most  often  fail  to  route — they  simply  side  track! 
The  periodical  gets  laid  aside  on  some  one's  desk  and 
the  librarian  does  not  know  whether  it  is  being 
passed  along  promptly  or  not,  whereas  if  the  period- 
ical is  sent  direct  to  one  individual  and  is  not 
promptly  returned,  the  librarian  goes  after  it,  if  it  is 
important  that  it  should  go  to  someone  else  in  the 
organization,  without  unreasonable  delay. 

A  simple  loan  record  on  3  by  5  inch  cards  spe- 
cially ruled  and  of  which  illustrations  are  shown, 
should  be  kept  under  the  name  of  the  man  to  whom 
the  periodical  is  sent,  and  also  under  the  name  of  the 
periodical,  in  order  that  the  librarian  can  tell  on  a 
moment's  notice  where  any  issue  of  a  periodical  is 
and  also  what  each  man  has  charged  against  him. 
Books  and  other  library  material  may  be  charged  in 
the  same  manner. 


PERIODICALS 


<^.A/^ 


W3 


\A. 


»5^v^ 


««.^ 


^<3tSJ' 


■vvs 


X»»u 


Samples  of  3  by  5  inch  charginsr'  cards.  These  cards  may  be  purchased  in 
ten  colors,  ruled  in  either  four  or  six  columns.  Some  business  librarians 
put  the  borrower's  record  on  a  white  card,  and  the  record  made  under  the 
name  of  a  periodical  on  a  colored  card.  Some  business  librarians  omit  the 
date  of  circulation.  The  initials  on  the  right  hand  card  shown  above,  are 
those  of  the  men  in  a  business  office  who  are  to  have  the  periodical  sent 
to  them  regularly.  The  cards  bearing  the  names  of  the  borrowers  should 
be  filed  in  a  charging  tray  in  alphabetical  order,  as  should  also  the  cards 
bearing  the  names  of  the  periodicals.  In  a  business  library,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  file  by  date  as  is  done  In  public  libraries. 


40  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

Business  men  in  general,  so  experience  proves, 
exercise  no  particular  responsibility  either  to  return 
material  or  to  replace  it,  for  the  business  organiza- 
tion has  no  rules  for  lending,  and  the  responsibility 
of  knowing  what  material  is  out  of  the  library,  where 
it  is,  and  that  it  is  brought  back  or  replaced,  falls 
upon  the  librarian.  The  business  librarian  with  his 
loan  record  as  a  guide  tactfully  asks  if  the  business 
man  is  finished  with  the  material,  and  if  so,  collects 
it;  in  some  cases  the  collection  is  made  without  ask- 
ing, when  a  visit  to  a  man's  office  clearly  shows  that 
the  material  is  side-tracked  and  dusty.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  tedious  duties  which  falls  to  the  business 
librarian's  lot,  but  one  of  the  most  important  ones, 
for  the  function  of  the  librarian  is  to  get  material 
used  freely,  and  not  hoarded. 

Business  men  who  always  get  what  they  want 
from  their  library  on  a  moment's  notice  do  not 
appreciate  the  time  and  patience  such  service  re- 
quires on  the  part  of  their  librarian,  for  no  genius  is 
involved  in  the  case  of  the  librarian  who  always  has 
ready  on  the  shelves  what  is  needed.  Often  a  busi- 
ness man  who  literally  wants  material  on  a  minute's 
notice,  is  the  one  who  is  most  careless  in  cooperating 
with  the  librarian  by  returning  material,  and  who 
does  not  want  to  stop  a  moment  to  have  a  loan  record 
made.  Sometimes  a  business  man  gets  in  a  hurry 
for  library  material,  which  the  librarian  says  he 
already  has,  but  which  he  insists  is  not  in  his  office, 
whereupon  the  librarian  goes  to  his  office,  and  pleas- 
antly and  often  humorously  unearths  it  from  the 
bottom  of  the  pile  of  material  on  his  desk  or  table. 


PERIODICALS  41 

In  the  matter  of  the  loaning  of  material  the 
business  librarian  certainly  has  to  be  characterized 
by  the  words  "long  suffering,"  for  he  must  make  no 
excuses  and  deliver  material  in  spite  of  the  delin- 
quencies of  others.  If  some  one  at  this  point  pro- 
tests that  it  is  unfair  to  the  business  librarian,  the 
answer  is,  that  the  business  man  has  a  right  to  do  as 
he  pleases  with  his  own,  and  that  the  business  libra- 
rian exists  to  save  a  busy  man  from  the  error  of  his 
ways,  for  it  must  be  remembered  always  that  the 
business  library  is  organized  to  give  service  to  men 
of  affairs,  burdened  with  large  responsibilities.  All 
business  men  are  not  careless  in  returning  material, 
and  certainly  minor  employes  have  no  right  to  be, 
but  it  will  have  to  be  admitted  that  business  men, 
who  never  think  of  taking  the  trouble  to  return 
material  are  in  the  majority. 

The  Binding  and  Filing  of  Periodicals 

After  the  current  periodicals  have  made  their 
last  tour  of  the  offices  they  come  back  to  the  library 
to  be  filed  for  future  use.  What  disposition  shall  be 
made  of  them?  Shall  important  articles  be  clipped 
and  filed  and  the  remainder  of  the  periodical  thrown 
away,  or  shall  a  complete  file  be  kept  for  six  months 
or  a  year  and  then  thrown  away,  or  shall  files  be 
kept  complete  and  bound  for  permanent  books  of 
reference?  The  latter  method  represents  the  best 
library  practice  for  the  following  reasons.  No  busi- 
ness organization  or  business  librarian  is  prophetical 
enough  to  foresee  exactly  what  information  will  be 
useful  to  keep  in  a  business  library  for  future  use. 


42 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


A  corner  of  bound  periodicals  in  the  library  of  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company, 
Chicago.  The  worth  while  periodicals  devoted  to  any  one  industry  are 
comparatively  few  and  bound  volumes  do  not  take  up  so  much  space  as 
might  be  imagined.  A  three  foot  shelf  will  hold  six  or  seven  years  of 
one  periodical. 


PERIODICALS  43 

when  one  considers  the  variety  of  valuable  material 
found  each  week  in  the  periodicals,  which  cover  the 
activities  of  a  certain  line  of  business.  Complete 
files  of  bound  periodicals  constitute  one  of  the  most 
valuable  reference  aids  that  any  business  library  can 
possess.  Clipping  valuable  periodicals  might  in  some 
instances  be  compared  to  cutting  out  an  article  from 
a  valuable  encyclopedia. 

One  of  the  values  of  having  periodicals  bound  is 
that  they  do  not  get  lost  or  misplaced  or  carried  off 
so  readily,  as  a  separate  number  or  a  clipping  would. 
Bound  volumes  do  not  take  up  so  much  space  as 
might  at  first  thought  be  imagined,  for  a  three-foot 
shelf  will  hold  the  bound  volumes  of  the  larger  size 
periodicals  for  a  six  or  seven  years  period,  and  the 
number  of  worth  while  periodicals  devoted  to  any  one 
industry  (excluding  of  course  the  annual  volumes 
of  societies)  are  comparatively  few,  and  twelve  to 
fifteen  sets  would  be  the  maximum  for  any  one  busi- 
ness library. 

The  replacing  immediately  of  a  lost  or  mutilated 
periodical  is  one  of  the  important  duties  of  the  busi- 
ness librarian,  for  it  is  reasonably  sure  that  the  lost 
or  mutilated  number  has  something  of  real  impor- 
tance in  it,  else  it  would  not  have  been  so  treated  by 
any  member  of  the  organization ;  it  is  also  important 
to  replace  it  as  soon  as  possible,  because  often  back 
numbers  are  difficult  to  obtain. 

Business  men  as  a  rule  know  nothing  of  the 
principles  of  satisfactory  binding  and  generally  give 
the  work  to  commercial  printing  establishments  who 
misplace  pages  and  sections,  and  make  mistakes  in 


44 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


titles  and  volume  numbers  in  lettering  the  backs.  If 
a  business  house  does  not  have  a  librarian  to  super- 
vise its  binding,  it  should  be  careful  to  select  if  pos- 
sible a  bindery  which  specializes  in  library  binding 
and  will  do  the  work  in  accordance  with  the  best 
library  practice.  An  illustration  is  shown  of  correct 
position  and  style  for  lettering  the  backs  of  bound 
volumes. 

It  is  not  advisable  to  bind  the  volumes  of  every 
periodical   received,  for   many  are  only  of   passing 

interest,  and  while  it  is  ad- 
visable to  keep  such  an 
unbound  file  for  a  year  or 
two,  at  the  end  of  that 
time  the  librarian  will  be 
guided  by  his  experience 
and  use  discretion  in  dis- 
posing of  out  of  date  ma- 
terial. 

The  best  method  of 
preserving  the  current 
numbers  of  periodicals 
which  are  to  be  perma- 
nently bound  or  preserved 
without  binding  is  by  the 
use  of  Library  Bureau 
pamphlet  boxes,  or  similar 
makes,  made  in  a  variety 
of  dimensions. 

The  "L.  B.  pamphlet 
box"  is  made  of  heavy  chip-board  covered  with 
glazed  paper  or  black   cloth,  and   half   of   one   side 


The  back  of  a  bound  periodical 


PERIODICALS 


45 


fl 



to       ■ 

^,. ..,_,.....„ ■ 

^K^HHBK 

^^^^^^K                           -                                               .J^^^^l 

^^^^B                -  "  ^:SM 

^-^^i 

46  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY       ' 

doubles  back  on  itself  permitting  of  easy  consulta- 
tion without  removal  of  the  contents.  These  boxes 
stand  on  edge  like  books  and  are  dust  proof. 

"Wood  C.  C.  pamphlet  case"  is  made  of  seasoned 
wood  and  covered  with  durable  paper.  This  case  has 
a  closed  top  and  open  back  and  is  therefore  not  dust 
proof  and  has  to  be  taken  off  the  shelf  to  consult  the 
contents.  For  general  use  the  L.  B.  pamphlet  box  is 
preferable  for  business  library  work.  Some  business 
libraries  also  use  a  specially  made  box  of  heavy 
cardboard  covered  with  book  cloth  and  with  a  card 
label  holder  on  the  back,  similar  in  style  to  the  'Wood 
C.  C.  pamphlet  case,"  and  which  can  be  made  by 
any  good  paper  box  factory,  at  prices  ranging  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  cents  each  on  quantities,  according 
to  the  size  desired.  H.  Schultz  and  Company,  519 
West  Superior  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois,  advertise 
quotations  on  stock  of  this  kind.  A  photogi^aph  is 
shown  of  the  style  of  boxes  used  by  the  National 
Safety  Council,  Chicago,  for  filing  copies  of  current 
circulars  which  are  distributed  to  their  members. 

The  Clipping  of  Periodicals 

Clipping  may  be  legitimately  indulged  in,  when 
an  article  of  interest  is  found  in  a  single  number  of 
a  periodical,  to  which  the  library  does  not  subscribe. 
Newspaper  items,  of  course,  must  always  be  clipped 
and  there  will  be  always  material  like  printed  leaflets 
which  will  require  the  same  kind  of  filing  as  clip- 
pings. 

Clippings  are  best  filed  in  vertical  file  units, 
and  methods  of  filing  and  indexing  are  discussed 


PERIODICALS 


47 


"ilT" 

..       ^^ 

2;;      -,    Z      «i    i«^ 

II  II 
ii  III 

Mill 
MM  1 

--,      »».      ««» ■  ^  8-  =1  -  -^ 

_    —  ■  —     — 

" '    "~"      Z       Z   Mfld 
—              Z   *^^w 

—     "~     -Z 

-  ="  I-"  ^;;  ;■ 

i  —    -   -    -         ^S».|l-' 

File  boxes  used  by  the  library  of  the  National   Safety   Council,   Chicago, 
for  current  circulars  for  distribution  to  their  members 


1 

48  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

in  Chapter  VI.  The  "U-File-M''  binder  strips 
manufactured  by  the  U-File-M  Manufacturing  Co., 
Syracuse,  New  York,  are  exceedingly  useful  and 
satisfactory  for  fastening  clippings,  single  sheets  or 
thin  booklets  into  vertical  file  folders.  These  strips 
need  to  be  visualized  by  samples  in  order  to  clearly 
understand  how  they  work,  but  they  can  be  described 
in  general  as  gummed  strips  a  half -inch  in  width  and 
11  inches  long  with  forty-four  gummed  tabs  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch  wide  affixed,  which  can  be  pulled 
out  from  under  a  protecting  strip  with  the  finger 
nail.  The  eleven-inch  strip  or  any  cut  off  portion, 
can  be  glued  horizontally  or  vertically  into  a  folder 
and  papers  or  clippings  attached  by  the  gummed 
tabs. 

Business  firms  who  wish  to  keep  up  with  any 
special  information  appearing  in  the  daily  press  often 
employ  a  press  clipping  bureau.  Such  service  always 
furnishes  quantity  rather  than  quality,  as  no  at- 
tempt is  made  to  select  only  items  of  real  value.  For 
example,  a  firm  specializing  in  the  manufacture  of 
canned  milk  ordered  a  clipping  bureau  to  send  it  all 
newspaper  clippings  on  milk  and  among  the  clippings 
sent  was  one  of  a  milkman  arrested  for  speeding, 
and  similar  clippings  were  frequently  sent.  If  very 
special  information  from  the  daily  press  is  desired 
the  clipping  should  be  done  by  a  person  within  the 
organization  who  has  intimate  knowledge  both  of 
the  subject  and  of  the  need. 


PERIODICALS  49 

SOME  DEALERS  IN  BACK  NUMBERS  OF  PERIODICALS 

Abrahams  Book  Store,  145  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 
F.  W.  Faxon  Company,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 
International   Magazine  Co.,   339  Bayway  North,  Elizabeth, 
New  Jersey. 

The  H.  W.  Wilson  Company,  New  York  City. 


CHAPTER  IV 

GOVERNMENT  DOCUMENTS  AND  THE 
BUSINESS  LIBRARY 

The  United  States  Government  is  the  leading 
publisher  of  accurate  and  reliable  information  bear- 
ing upon  all  kinds  of  business  activities.  No  ques- 
tion should  ever  be  investigated  or  data  collected  by 
a  business  firm  without  taking  into  consideration 
the  valuable  sources  of  government  information  on 
that  particular  subject.  The  **Youroveta  Review,'* 
in  its  March,  1919  issue,  says: 

"It  is  not  only  safety  and  accuracy  in  the  performance 
of  its  regular  duties,  but  also  expansion  and  development  at 
which  a  progressive  firm  is  aiming;  and  this  can  be  attained 
only  when  the  business  is  analyzed  from  all  aspects  of  prac- 
tical interest,  when  the  horizon  is  being  constantly  searched, 
and  endeavors  are  made  to  explore  new  commercial  avenues." 

Studies  of  mineral,  oil  and  gas  deposits,  tests  of 
boiler  and  furnace  efficiencies,  analyses  and  tests  of 
fuels,  production  of  crops  and  cattle,  labor  problems, 
electrolysis,  standards  for  gas  and  electric  service, 
foreign  trade,  water  power  and  statistics  of  all  in- 
dustrial activities,  constitute  a  few  of  the  subjects 
on  which  the  government  periodically  reports. 

The  daily  paper  called  "Commerce  Reports," 
which  gives  reports  and  business  tips  on  trade  and 
industrial  conditions,  gathered  by  American  Consu- 
lar officers  at  their  respective  posts  throughout  the 
world,  is  an  invaluable  periodical  for  business  men 
in  this  after-the-war  period  of  trade  development. 


GOVERNMENT    DOCUMENTS  51 

The  United  States  Shipping  Board  has  issued  a 
valuable  series  of  free  pamphlets  in  the  interest  of 
export  trade,  some  of  which  are: 

World  Trade;  A  List  of  Books  on  World  Trade. 

Selection  of  Books  on  Foreign  Languages. 

Ships  and  the  Ocean;  A  List  of  Books  on  Ships,  Com- 
merce and  The  Merchant  Marine. 

Foreign  Countries;  A  List  of  Books  on  Foreign  Coun- 
tries. 

Many  practical  illustrations  could  be  given,  if 
space  permitted,  of  the  use  made  by  business  firms 
of  government  publications.  For  example,  a  large 
mail  order  house  made  a  decision,  based  on  consult- 
ing the  Weather  Bureau's  temperature  records  in 
the  different  sections  of  the  country  for  a  range  of 
years,  as  to  what  date  would  be  best  for  sending  out, 
to  various  districts,  advance  catalogs  advertising 
summer  and  winter  wearing  apparel ;  while  an  engi- 
neering firm,  designing  a  gas  holder  to  be  erected  in 
a  northern  city,  decided  on  the  factor  of  safety  to  be 
adopted  against  the  lowest  possible  temperature,  by 
consulting  the  weather  reports  for  the  lowest  tem- 
peratures which  prevailed  in  that  section  for  a  long 
range  of  j^ears. 

How  to  Procure  Government  Documents 

To  keep  thoroughly  informed  on  the  large  body 
of  constantly  growing  data  issued  by  the  govern- 
ment, to  know  how  to  procure  it  without  delay  and 
apply  to  a  specific  problem  is  no  small  accom- 
plishment, and  this  is  one  of  the  important  reasons 
why  the  business  man  needs  the  assistance  of  a 
trained  library  worker.    The  average  business  man 


52  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


S         2 

ily  Catalc 

nited  States 

*  Docume 

No.  285 

Eptetnber.  1918 

UTtKOCHT  Of  OOCUHCNTI 

^       ' 

C              J3                                      2 

O                3 

S              ^      .        . 

GOVERNMENT     DOCUMENTS  53 

gets  mentally  lost  in  the  thick  woods  of  government 
documents;  he  either  does  not  know  which  depart- 
ment or  bureau  of  the  government  can  give  the  spe- 
cific information  he  desires,  or  he  does  not  know 
how  to  procure,  in  the  shortest  time,  desired  data 
which  he  knows  the  government  has  on  file. 

The  best  way  for  the  business  man  to  find  out 
what  information  is  in  print  and  can  be  procured  for 
his  personal  use,  is  to  write  direct  to  each  depart- 
ment, or  special  bureau,  for  the  catalog  of  their 
available  publications.  For  example,  the  Bureau  of 
Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  issues  a  catalog  of 
Bureau  publications  which  is  described  as  a  "review 
of  information  available  to  manufacturers  and  ex- 
porters in  the  bulletins  issued  by  the  Bureau."  The 
Navy  Department  issues  an  "Index  to  Specifications 
for  Naval  Stores  and  Material"  which  is  very  useful 
to  many  classes  of  business  men  who  are  drawing  up 
specifications  for  the  purchase  of  various  kinds  of 
material.  The  list  of  publications  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey  is  a  most  valuable  guide  in 
procuring  bulletins  on  water  power  and  irrigation, 
mines  and  mineral  resources,  as  well  as  important 
papers  on  economic  geology,  namely,  oil,  gas  and 
other  Uvseful  minerals.  The  United  States  Bureau  of 
Standards,  the  Bureau  of  Census,  the  Bureau  of 
Mines,  all  publish  catalogs  of  papers  issued  by  them, 
which  are  of  the  greatest  possible  value  to  business 
men.  These  bureaus,  in  addition  to  their  printed 
catalogs,  issue  supplemental  lists  of  new  publications 
each  month  and  the  "Monthly  Catalog  of  United 
States   Public  Documents,"   issued  monthly,   price 


54 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBR^ARY 


A» 

^1 

1 

CO 

1^ 

1 

1 

1;; 

m 

1 

1 

§ 

^2 

SS 

[V]    l-H 

^  D-i 
O 


II 
ll 

£■5 
P 


^ 


GOVERNMENT     DOCUMENTS 


55 


'j^i;;:;  WPApTMEWr  QF  THE  INTERIOR 


BOfcLETIN.  1919,  No.  2 


$1.10  per  year,  obtainable  from  the  Superintendent 
of  Documents,  also  gives  a  list  of  all  the  publications 
of  all  departments  of  the  government  issued  each 
month. 

The  Superintendent  of  Documents  issues  free 
of  charge,  forty-four  lists  of  documents,  for  sale  by 
his  office,  on  certain  subjects,  such  as  Roads,  Labor, 
Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States,  Finance, 
Transportation,  etc.  A  complete  Ust  of  these  sub- 
jects can  be  found  in 
S wanton's  Guide  to 
United  States  Gov- 
ernment Publications 
(Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion Bulletin  1918, 
No.  2),  page  127,  ob- 
tainable from  Super- 
intendent of  Docu- 
ments at  twenty 
cents  per  copy.  This 
guide  is  a  most  useful 
compilation  as  it  de- 
scribes briefly  the 
work  of  each  depart- 
ment of  the  govern- 
ment and  kind  of 
publications  issued 
by  them,  stating 
where  they  can  be 
obtained  and  what 
classes   of  publica- 


,     |:;^IJlDE  TO  UNITED  STATES  . 
lilf^^/EfofNCENT  PiJBUCATICNS 


▼ALTER  I,  SWANTON. 


tions  are  free  and  what  are  for  sale. 


1 
56  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

Government  publications  which  ordinarily  may 
be  obtained  free  by  applying  direct  to  the  Bureau 
issuing  them,  if  out  of  stock  may  often  be  bought 
from  the  Superintendent  of  Documents.  The  Super- 
intendent of  Documents  requires  that  all  publications 
ordered  from  him  be  paid  for  in  advance,  and  this 
involves  some  difficulty,  as  often  a  man  does  not 
know  how  much  money  to  send  to  procure  the  publi- 
cation, if  he  has  not  seen  the  price  quoted.  Some 
business  libraries,  to  save  delay  in  ordering,  deposit 
twenty-five  dollars  in  advance  with  the  Superintend- 
ent of  Documents  against  which  the  cost  of  docu- 
ments ordered  can  be  charged.  The  old  idea  of 
procuring  publications  through  a  Congressman  or 
Senator  is  the  poorest  kind  of  method  of  obtaining 
what  is  wanted  in  a  hurry,  for  many  government 
documents  will  not  cost  the  business  firm  anything 
and  those  for  which  a  charge  is  asked  cost  a  very 
small  price. 

Some  of  the  departments  of  the  government 
issue  advance  mimeographed  sheets  of  information 
and  will  also  give  out,  in  advance  of  printing,  data 
on  file  in  the  department  to  firms  which  make  special 
request  for  it,  and  have  also  been  known  to  reply 
promptly  to  telegraphic  requests. 

Some  of  the  bureaus  of  the  government  have 
district  offices  in  a  few  of  the  large  cities  of  the 
United  States,  for  example,  district  offices  of  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  Weather 
Bureau,  etc.,  which  are  of  great  service  in  obtaining 
data  in  a  hurry,  and  the  business  man  should  ascer- 
tain the  resources  of  his  city  in  this  respect.     He 


GOVERNMENT     DOCUMENTS  57 

should  also  not  forget  to  use  the  collection  of  gov- 
ernment documents  at  his  Public  Library  when  he 
wants  to  use  publications  of  which  he  cannot  obtain 
a  copy  for  his  own  immediate  needs.  Some  of  the 
smaller  public  libraries  do  not  have  their  govern- 
ment documents  fully  cataloged  and  immediately 
available  so  that  the  business  man  must  not  infer, 
because  he  cannot  find  certain  government  informa- 
tion at  his  public  library,  that  it  does  not  exist. 

State  Documents 

The  individual  states  of  the  United  States  also 
publish  valuable  documents  through  their  state 
lx)ards  and  commissions  with  which  it  is  well  for 
the  business  man  to  be  acquainted.  Many  of  the 
individual  states  have  similar  boards  and  commis- 
sions which  report  annually  or  biennially,  both  in  bul- 
letins and  regular  reports,  such  as  state  engineer, 
state  geologist,  state  mining  department,  state  insur- 
ance department,  state  experiment  station,  bureau  of 
labor  and  industrial  statistics,  state  public  utilities 
commissions  and  special  commissions  created  to  deal 
with  any  particular  problems  or  industries,  peculiar 
to  the  individual  state.  The  best  guide  available  to 
current  state  publications  is  the  ^'Monthly  List  of 
State  Publications"  published  by  the  Library  of  Con- 
gress, fifty  cents  per  year.  The  chief  drawback  in 
the  use  of  this  list  is  that  it  is  always  several  months 
behind  in  being  published,  as  is  also  the  ^'Monthly 
Catalog  of  United  States  Public  Documents."  The 
current  trade  periodicals  often  note  the  issue  of  any 
important  state  publications  more  promptly  and  are 


58  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

a  great  aid  in  keeping  up  to  date  on  this  information. 
Public  Affairs  Information  Service,  a  cumulated 
index  published  by  H.  W.  Wilson  Company,  New 
York  City,  and  which  is  noted  more  fully  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter  on  Reference  Books,  lists  a  number 
of  state  publications  of  value. 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 

KaempfFert,  Waldemar 

Putting  Uncle  Sam  to  work.     McClure's  magazine  Dec. 
1916,  p.  11. 
Reinick,  W.  R. 

Public  documents  as  a  commercial  factor.     Special  libra- 
ries Nov.  1913,  p.  175-77. 


CHAPTER  V 

TRADE  CATALOGS,  PHOTOGRAPHS  AND  LANTERN 
SLIDES  — THEIR  FILING  AND  INDEXING 

Trade  Catalogs 

Several  methods  for  filing  and  indexing  trade 
catalogs  have  been  advocated  by  various  writers, 
but  the  most  generally  approved  practice  is  to  file 
in  legal  size  vertical  file  cabinets,  with  a  shelf  to 
accommodate  large  bound  volumes  which  are  too 
bulky  to  go  into  the  drawers  and  whose  disposition 
on  shelves  instead  of  in  file  drawers  can  be  noted  by 
a  symbol  on  the  index  card,  and  also  by  a  reference 
sheet  placed  in  the  file  where  the  catalog  would  be 
alphabeted. 

All  trade  catalogs  should  be  filed  alphabetically 
by  the  names  of  the  firms  issuing  them,  rather  than 
under  subjects,  because  often  a  single  pamphlet,  or 
volume,  may  list  a  variety  of  materials  which  can  not 
be  classified  under  a  single  subject  name,  thus  avoid- 
ing numerous  cross  subject  references. 

Engineers  are  prone  to  endeavor  to  apply  a 
decimal  subject  classification  in  filing  trade  catalogs, 
with  the  result  that  they  fall  into  many  intricate 
difficulties.  However,  small  offices  using  only  a  few 
trade  catalogs  on  special  subjects  can  file  under  sub- 
jects with  other  library  material  if  desired.  (The 
organization  of  an  alphabetical  subject  file  for  mis- 
cellaneous   data  is  described   in  Chapter  VI.)     All 


60 


] 
THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


Belt   shifters 


Mahljofj  pradlcy  &.  Company 

First  National  Bank  Building 
Chicago 


Tifade  catalog  index  card  made  under  the  subject  name 


Diamond  speed  shifter 


Mahion  Bradley  &   Company 

First  National  Bank  Building 
Chicago 


Trade  catalog  index   card  made  under  well   known  trade   name 


TRADE  CATALOGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 


61 


trade  catalogs  filed  under  the  names  of  the  firms 
should  be  subject  card  indexed,  because  it  takes  less 
time  to  make  a  working  index  than  it  does  to  look 
through  various  catalogs  to  find  desired  information 
when  there  is  no  index. 

The  method  of  indexing  should  be  as  follows: 
there  should  be  a  card  made  for  the  name  of  each 
firm  issuing  the  catalog,  and  the  address  of  the  firm 
may  be  added  to  this  card  in.  order  to  use  it  as  a 


KahJ 


on  Bradley  &  Company 


First  Hational  Bank  Building 
Chicago 


Belt 
Diaz  iond 


shifters 

speed  shifter 


Trade  catalog  index  card  made  under  the  name  of  the  firm  and  showing 
the  subject  name  and  trade  name  under  which  additional  cards  have 
been  made. 


mailing  list  if  desired.  The  subjects,  i.  e.,  specific 
names  of  merchandise,  which  the  catalog  covers  and 
any  well  known  trade  names,  should  be  written  on 
the  face  of  this  main  card  (see  illustration)  and 
additional  cards  made  for  the  subjects  and  any  im- 
portant trade  names,  and  all  of  the  cards  should  be 


] 

62  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

filed  in  a  single  alphabet.  A  Cutter  number  (which 
is  explained  in  detail  in  the  chapter  on  catalog- 
ing) may  be  put  on  each  index  card  and  trade  cat- 
alog, in  order  to  facilitate  the  alphabetizing  and 
quick  location  of  individual  trade  catalogs.  The  sub- 
ject index  in  Thomas'  Register  of  American  Manu- 
facturers, an  invaluable  tool  to  purchasing  depart- 
ments, is  a  great  aid  in  selecting  subject  names  to  be 
used  in  the  trade  catalog  index. 

Photographs 

Photographs  are  important  sources  of  informa- 
tion for  any  business  firm,  as  they  visualize  printed 
or  written  descriptions  and  make  an  accurate  and 
unchangeable  record  which  does  not  permit  of  any 
misunderstanding,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  in  read- 
ing a  printed  account.  Every  industry  should  have 
a  photograph  file  illustrating  the  various  aspects  of 
its  products  or  the  installations  and  construction 
for  which  it  is  responsible  and  which  may  be 
supplemented  by  any  photographs  which  can  be  ob- 
tained on  similar  work  done  by  firms  other  than  its 
own. 

Banks  and  investment  houses  should  have  pho- 
tographs of  all  tangible  properties  on  which  they 
issue  securities,  as  they  have  been  found  to  be  of 
great  aid  in  making  a  stock  and  bond  offering  con- 
crete in  the  mind  of  possible  customers. 

Photographs  are  best  filed  by  mounting  singly 
or  in  groups  on  a  standard  size  photo-mount  board 
11  by  14  inches  and  put  into  architectural  size  ver- 
tical file  drawers.    A  dry  mount  process  by  the  use 


TRADE  CATALOGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 


63 


of  gum  tissue  and  a  hot  iron  is  much  to  be  preferred 
to  the  ordinary  method  of  mounting,  as  photographs 
expand  when  wet  and  shrink  in  drying,  thus  subject- 
ing the  mounting  board  to  more  or  less  warpmg 
unless  heavy  pressure  is  used. 


A  photo-mount  board  11  by  14  inches  in  size.  The  title  of  the  photograph 
with  date  when  taken  is  lettered  across  the  top  and  the  classification 
number  is  shown  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner. 


Photographs  for  business  purposes  may  be  filed 
geographically  or  by  subjects,  according  to  the  use 
which  is  to  be  made  of  them.  An  engineering  firm 
building  structures  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
file  their  construction  photographs  under  the  name 


64 


] 
THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


of  the  state  and  city  in  which  the  work  is  done ;  all 
the  cities  of  a  single  state  are  arranged  in  alphabet- 
ical order  under  the  state  name.  The  individual 
photograph  boards  are  numbered  in  accession  order 
which  makes  the  photograph  of  latest  date  the  high- 
est number  under  each  city. 


9/7.6 


'int) 


^^^^  -Feb     a      fn^^^^^-    ^%f''"?'-^5Z^ 


Card 


Form  of   entry  on  the  index  card   to   a   photograph   file 

In  order  to  avoid  writing  the  name  of  the  state 
and  the  name  of  the  town  on  the  corner  of  each  pho- 
tograph, this  particular  library  uses  on  each  board 
the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification  history  number 
for  each  state  with  the  first  letter  of  the  name  of 
the  city  below  this  decimal  number,  to  which  is  added 
the  accession  number  of  the  photograph.  This  com- 
bined number  is  used  on  the  corner  of  the  index  card 


TRADE  CATALOGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS    65 

on  which  is  also  entered  the  name  of  the  city  fol- 
lowed by  the  accession  number  of  each  board  and 
the  title  of  the  photograph  with  the  date  on  which 
the  photograph  was  taken. 

Each  photograph  may  be  cataloged  on  a  separate 
card  if  desired  and  subject  cards  can  also  be  made 
to  any  photographs  and  filed  alphabetically  with  the 
geographical  index  cards. 

When  subject  filing  of  photographs  is  desired 
the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification  subject  number,  or 
a  modification  of  that  system,  or  the  name  of  the 
subject  written  out  in  full  or  the  Cutter  symbol  for 
it  (which  is  described  in  Chapter  VI),  can  be  sub- 
stituted in  place  of  the  geographical  classification 
number. 

Lantern  Slides 

There  are  two  methods  of  filing  slides.  One  is 
to  file  slides  in  a  cabinet  containing  drawers  similar 
to  a  card  catalog  case,  the  slides  being  filed  horizon- 
tally rather  than  vertically.  The  other  method  is 
to  use  a  specially  designed  filing  cabinet  containing 
sliding  file  leaves  which  pull  out  at  right  angles  to 
the  cabinet,  which  is  designed  on  the  sectional  unit 
plan  for  growth ;  the  leaves  have  each  a  capacity  of 
about  fifty  or  sixty  slides  which  are  held  in  place 
by  means  of  channel  grooves  which  provide  for 
examination  of  the  slides  without  handling,  and  also 
permit  of  quick  removal  of  each  slide  as  needed. 
Complete  descriptions  of  such  cabinets  may  be  ob- 
tained from  the  Multiplex  Display  Fixture  Company, 
St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  from  G.  S.  Moler,  408  Uni- 


] 

66  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY     . 

versity  avenue,  Ithaca,  New  York.  Both  makes  have 
been  satisfactorily  used  by  a  number  of  business 
organizations. 

The  drawer  method  of  filing  slides  costs  less 
than  the  cabinet  with  sliding  file  leaves,  and  also 
takes  up  less  space.  It  has  been  found  in  the  experi- 
ence of  libraries  handling  large  numbers  of  lantern 


The   Moler   lantern   slide    cabinet 

slides  which  are  used  freely  that  they  are  not  as 
fragile  as  they  appear  to  be ;  they  do  not  break  easily 
and  can  be  fingered  as  rapidly  as  a  card  index  file  in 
a  similar  drawer.  A  piece  of  white  paper  can  be 
easily  slipped  behind  the  slides  in  the  drawers  to 


TRADE  CATALOGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 


67 


bring  out  their  details    when   they  are  being  con- 
sulted. 


Lantern  slide  cabinet  made  by  Multiplex  Display  Fixture  C!o. 

Lantern  slides  may  be  classified  and  card  in- 
dexed for  business  purposes  in  the  same  way  that 
photographs  are  and  care  should  be  taken  to  have  the 
file  number  and  title  of  the  slide  plainly  lettered 
along  the  top  edge  of  the  face  of  the  slide. 


1 

68  THE     BUSINESS    LIBRARY 

Collections  of  lantern  slides  for  art  and  archi- 
tectural purposes  require  more  elaborate  classifica- 
tion and  catalogi^jg-  but  such  requirements  do  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  this  treatise. 

In  some  business  libraries  where  the  slides  are 
loaned  out  of  the  city  it  may  be  advisable  to  index 
them  on  a  4  by  6  inch  catalog  card,  instead  of  the 
standard  3  by  5  inch  card,  in  order  to  allow  room  to 
paste  on  it  a  photograph  of  the  lantern  slide  which 
will  show  its  detail  when  the  slide  itself  is  not 
immediately  available. 

Cuts 

Half-tone,  zinc  and  electrotype  cuts  may  be 
classified  in  the  same  way  that  photographs  are  but 
filed  in  flat  drawers.  A  reduced  photograph  of  the 
cut  may  be  pasted  on  the  index  card  similar  to  the 
plan  noted  above  for  lantern  slides. 

Maps 

Business  firms  having  large  collections  of  maps 
which  need  to  be  specially  filed  and  recorded  will  find 
helpful  suggestions  in  a  small  pamphlet  entitled 
"Making  Maps  Available,"  by  Beatrice  Winser,  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Library  Association,  78  East 
Washington  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois,  price  five  cents. 


TRADE     CATALOGS    AND    PHOTOGRAPHS        69 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 

Cook,  G.  L. 

A  library  of  trade  catalogs.    Library  journal  May  1919, 
p.  307-308. 

Nourse,  F.  M. 

Finding  the  needle   in   the  haystack    (photographs  and 
cuts).     System  Feb.  1919,  p.  218. 

Peck,  E.  E. 

Trade  catalog  file.     Library  journal  July  1919,  p.  442. 
Selection  of  trade  publications  of  manufacturing  companies. 
The  booklist  April  1919,  p.  285. 

Stokes,  C.  W. 

Classification  and  filing  of  photographs.     Printers*  ink 
August  3,  1916,  p.  82-86. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CLASSIFICATION  AND   CATALOGING   IN 
BUSINESS   LIBRARIES 

All  books  and  pamphlets  received  by  the  busi- 
ness library  should  be  classified  by  subject,  i.  e.,  all 
material  on  a  given  subject  should  be  brought  to- 
gether under  the  same  subject  number.  The  most 
satisfactory  working  scheme  of  subject  classification 
which  has  yet  been  devised  and  which  is  most  gen- 
erally used  is  the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification,  Edi- 
tion 9,  1915,  which  can  be  purchased  from  the  Li- 
brary Bureau,  price  $6.00.  No  subject  classification 
is  perfect  and  the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification  will 
not  fit  all  business  libraries  equally  well,  but  its  elas- 
ticity of  form  and  its  notation  is  such  that  any  ex- 
pansion which  may  be  required  by  the  specialized 
character  of  the  business  library  may  readily  be 
made  by  the  trained  librarian.  The  following  list  of 
extensions  to  the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification  may 
be  of  interest  to  engineers: 

"Extension  of  the  Dewey  Decimal  System  of  Classifica- 
tion Applied  to  the  Engineering  Industries,"  by  L.  B. 
Brcckenridge  and  G.  A.  Goodenough,  published  in 
University  of  Illinois  Engineering  Experiment  Sta- 
tion Bulletin  9,  revised  edition,  1912. 

"Extension  of  Dewey  Decimal  System  of  Classification 
to  Cover  Municipal  Engineering,"  by  R.  De  L. 
French,  in  Canadian  Engineer,  Nov.  12,  1914. 

"Extension  of  the  Dewey  Decimal  System  of  Classifica- 
tion to  the  Gas  Industry,"  by  D.  S.  Knauss,  American 
Gas  Institute,  October,  1914. 


CLASSIFICATION    AND     CATALOGING  71 

"Extension  of  the  Dewey  Decimal  System  of  Classifica- 
tion Applied  to  Metallurgy,  Metallography  and  As- 
saying," by  R.  M.  Keeny,  Colorado  School  of  Mines 
Quarterly,  Golden,  Colo.,  April,  1911. 

"Proposed  Classification  for  an  Engineering  Library" 
by  E.  H.  Frick  and  Esther  Raymond  published  by 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  1916. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  business  libraries 
are  small  and  the  number  of  books  and  pamphlets  to 
be  classified  are  few  as  compared  with  the  enormous 
collections  in  public  libraries,  so  that  the  much  dis- 
cussed question  of  new  classifications  which  arises 
periodically  is  not  of  so  vital  importance  to  the  busi- 
ness library  as  might  appear,  especially  so  when  one 
recognizes  the  importance  of  making  an  exhaustive 
subject  catalog  to  all  material,  which  relieves  the 
business  library  from  any  undue  difficulties  in  classi- 
fication. It  will  readily  be  seen  that  no  subject  clas- 
sification can  bring  together  on  the  library  shelves 
all  information  on  a  subject,  for  the  reason  that  some 
books  and  pamphlets  cover  several  well  defined  sub- 
jects and  the  book  can  stand  on  the  shelf  in  one  sub- 
ject position  only.  Such  difficulties  are  met  most  sat- 
isfactorily by  a  subject  catalog  in  which  subject 
entries  are  made  under  the  most  specific  subject 
heading  and  not  under  a  broad  term  which  includes 
several  well  defined  divisions  of  a  general  subject. 
For  example,  a  book  on  steam  engines  should  be  sub- 
ject cataloged  under  "Steam  engines"  and  not  under 
"Engines,"  while  a  book  on  various  kinds  of  engines 
should  be  subject  cataloged  under  "Engines"  and  not 
under  "Mechanical  engineering."  The  book  on  en- 
gines, if  it  treated  of  Marine  engines.  Gas  engines 


72 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


SaiQz. 


Cansron,  V.  H. 


The  attitude  of  the  employer  towards 
accident  prevention  and  workmen's  com- 
pensation.  9  P* 


Safety  movement 
l^orkmen*s  compensation 


I'he  pamphlet  noted  above  is  filed  under  "Safety  movement"  and  an  entry 
is  made  under  the  author's  name  for  the  card  index,  showing  upon  its 
face  the  subject  names  under  which  subject  index  cards   have  been  made 


3Ai£a- 


3amsron,  W.  H. 

The  attitude  of  the  employer  towards 
cident  prevention  and  workmen's  com- 
pensation.  9  P* 


Workmen's  compensation 


If  a  pamphlet  covers  two  or  more  subjects  a  subject  card  may  be  made 
for  each  subject.  The  subject  under  which  the  pamphlet  is  filed  is  shown 
by  the  Cutter  book  number.  In  this  particular  instance,  the  pamphlet  is 
placed  in  the  file  under  "Safety  movement." 


CLASSIFICATION    AND     CATALOGING 


73 


and  various  other  types  could  also  have  cards  made 
under  those  subjects  in  addition  to  the  card  which 
was  made  under  "Engines." 

This  method  permits  of  a  book  or  pamphlet 
being  entered  under  any  number  of  specific  subjects 
on  which  it  gives  information  and  thus  the  subject 
catalog  brings  together  all  the  information  in  the 
library  on  a  specific  subject,  although  it  may  not 
stand  together  on  the  shelves  or  in  a  vertical  file. 

Alphabetic-subject  File 

All  material  put  into  vertical  files  need  not  be 
filed  necessarily  by  a  numerical  subject  classification 
such  as  the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification;  on  the 


Sal07 


ameo-on,  tL   H. 

The  attitude  of  the  employer  towards 
accident  prevention  and  workmen' o  com- 
pensation,  9  P' 


Safety  movemert 


Subject  catalog  card  for  Alphabetic-subject  file 


contrary  a  number  of  business  libraries,  which  use 
the  Decimal  Classification  for  material  put  on  the 
shelves,  have  organized  most  successful  vertical  files 


1 
74  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

of  miscellaneous  material,  clippings,  pamphlets,  etc., 
by  the  alphabetic-subject  method.  This  simply  means 
that  the  material  is  assigned,  instead  of  a  sub- 
ject number,  a  specific  subject  name  similar  to  that 
put  on  a  subject  catalog  card  and  is  filed  alpha- 
betically under  that  subject  name  written  out 
in  full  upon  the  folder,  to  which  may  be  pre- 
fixed a  Cutter  number  assigned  from  the  subject 
name  of  the  material.  The  Cutter  number,  pri- 
marily designed  to  alphabet  authors,  is  the  first 
letter  of  a  word  combined  with  certain  figures,  de- 
signed to  keep  words  in  alphabetic  order  by  their 
initial  letter  and  the  figures  following  it.  The  Cutter 
three  figure  alphabetic-order  table,  price  $2.70,  or 
the  Cutter-Sanborn  alphabetic-order  table,  price 
$3.00,  both  for  sale  by  the  Library  Bureau,  are 
equally  good  for  use  in  the  alphabetic-subject  file. 
The  Cutter  two  figure  table  may  be  used  for  a  small 
collection  of  material. 

The  advantage  in  using  a  Cutter  number  is,  that 
it  makes  a  convenient  brief  notation  to  use  on  the 
material  to  be  filed  and  on  the  catalog  card  to  show 
where  the  material  is  placed  in  the  file.  For  temporary 
files  of  ephemeral  material  both  the  Cutter  number 
and  the  card  cataloging  may  be  omitted.  The  alpha- 
betic-subject file  obviates  the  difficulties  which  arise 
when  the  business  library  finds  it  has  material  on 
subjects  for  which  the  Dewey  Decimal  Classification 
has  not  adequately  provided.  The  difference  between 
the  alphabetic-subject  method  of  filing  and  the 
decimal  classification  method  is,  that  related  sub- 
jects do  not  stand  together  as  they  do  in  the  latter 


CLASSIFICATION    AND     CATALOGING  75 

method,  which  for  example,  puts  Algebra,  Geometry 
and  Trigonometry  in  logical  sequence  under  the  num- 
bers 512,  513  and  514,  while  in  an  alphabetic-subject 
file  these  subjects  would  stand  like  words  in  a  dic- 
tionary, under  A,  G  and  T,  respectively. 

Printed  information  on  corporations  collected  by 
banking  houses  is  most  satisfactorily  filed  alphabet- 
ically under  the  name  of  each  coi-poration  with  sub- 
divisions (i.  e.,  mortgages,  reports,  etc.)  under  each 
corporation  name  where  necessary. 

Cataloging 

Business  men  as  a  whole  do  not  understand  what 
cataloging  involves  nor  its  supreme  importance.  Most 
of  them  call  it  card  indexing  and  think  they  have 
provided  amply  for  it  when  they  have  purchased  a 
card  catalog  cabinet  and  a  supply  of  cards,  without 
realizing  what  someone  has  recently  said  in  a  busi- 
ness periodical,  that  "the  number  of  employes  arid 
the  generosity  of  mechanical  equipment  are  not  the 
essentials  of  high  grade  production.  Brains  and 
floor  space  are  unrelated."  A  card  catalog  to  be  a 
success,  as  a  working  tool,  must  be  made  according 
to  a  code  of  standardized  rules  by  some  one  who 
has  been  thoroughly  taught  to  use  them.  A  code 
of  catalog  rules  given  to  a  novice  who  attempts  to 
catalog  by  them  without  previous  instruction  will 
yield  about  as  satisfactory  results  as  an  automobile 
does  when  it  is  operated  by  some  one  who  has  never 
run  one  before,  and  whose  only  knowledge  consists 
of  what  he  has  read  about  it  in  a  handbook.  The  truth 
of  this  contention  is  apparent  w^hen  one  considers 


76  THE     BUSINESS    LIBRARY 

that  strict  uniformity  and  accuracy  must  be  main- 
tained, not  only  in  making  author  entries  but  par- 
ticularly in  making  what  the  trained  librarian  calls 
subject  headings  with  "see"  and  "see  also"  refer- 
ences which  the  business  man  is  often  heard  to  call 
cross  indexing.  (See  Hitchler,  Cataloging  for  Small 
Libraries,  Chapters  5  and  6.)  Cataloging  must  be  as 
accurate  as  bookkeeping;  a  wrong  figure,  a  mis-filed 
card  or  the  entry  of  information  under  an  incorrect 
subject,  makes  the  catalog  as  useless  as  trying  to 
unlock  a  door  with  a  key  that  does  not  fit.  The 
American  Library  Association,  78  East  Washington 
Street,  Chicago,  Illinois,  has  issued  a  valuable  list  of 
suggestive  "Subject  Headings  for  Use  in  a  Diction- 
ary Catalog,"  third  edition,  price  $2.50,  which  indi- 
cates proper  terminology  with  cross  references,  and 
to  which  each  business  library  will  probably  make 
many  subject  additions  to  suit  its  specific  needs.  The 
subject  headings  used  in  the  "Readers'  Guide  to 
Periodical  Literature"  and  the  "Industrial  Arts  In- 
dex," mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  are  also  of 
help  to  the  business  library  in  determining  adequate 
subject  headings  for  the  card  catalog.  The  ability  to 
assign  subject  headings  and  cross  references  cor- 
rectly requires  both  broad  knowledge  and  a  high 
degree  of  training  and  is  one  of  the  important  assets 
which  the  business  librarian  derives  from  a  library 
school  education. 

For  the  benefit  of  small  offices  which  have  a  lim- 
ited collection  of  material  and  will  need  to  do  very 
little  cataloging  or  indexing,  the  sample  author  and 
subject  cards  are  given  to  illustrate  correct  form. 


CLASSIFICATION     AND     CATALOGING 


77 


Further  helpful  suggestions  can  be  obtained 
from  Hitchler's  Cataloging  for  Small  Libraries,  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Library  Association,  78  East 
Washington  Street,  Chicago,  Illinois,  price  $1.25. 


^27.8 


W42 


jgsgfiftnn.  Edwarg 


Ed. 


Design  &  construction  of  dams 
4   K,Y.   Viley  1904. 


Dams 


Form    of    author    card 


The  Library  of  Congress  publishes  catalog  cards 
printed  on  the  standard  3  by  5  inch  card,  one  form  of 
card  only  for  each  book,  namely  the  author  or  main 
entry  card,  with  suggestive  subject  headings  printed 
at  the  bottom.  To  this  card,  if  purchased,  may  be 
added  the  classification  number  of  the  book  in  the 
particular  business  library,  and  additional  cards  may 
be  bought  on  which  may  be  put  the  subject  headings. 
Not  many  business  libraries  have  made  use  of  these 
printed  cards  issued  by  the  Library  of  Congress, 
because  business  library  material  is  so  limited  and 
specialized  in  selection  that  not  enough  Library  of 
Congress  catalog  cards  can  be  used  to  make  it  worth 


78 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


while  to  spend  time  in  checking  up  what  cards  the 
Library  of  Congress  issues,  which  can  be  used  by  the 
business  library.  The  business  library  is  always  in 
a  hurry  to  have  its  material  cataloged  and  put  on  the 
shelves  at  once,  and  ordering  and  waiting  for  receipt 
of  Library  of  Congress  cards  does  not  generally  per- 
mit of  quick  enough  work. 


627.8 


W42 


^egnann,  Edward 

Design  &  construction  of  dams 
pd,  4   N.Y.  Wiley  1904. 


Dama. 


Form   of   subject  card 


It  is  advisable  that  the  card  catalogs  to  material 
in  the  business  library  should  be,  as  far  as  possible, 
alphabeted  together  in  a  single  file,  because  informa- 
tion on  a  subject  found  in  a  book  is  cataloged  under 
a  specific  subject  heading,  information  on  the  same 
subject  found  in  a  periodical  article  is  entered  under 
the  same  subject  heading  as  that  used  for  the  infor- 
mation in  the  book,  and  the  same  subject  heading  is 
used  in  the  card  catalog  for  the  material  which, 
because  of  its  form,  is  put  into  the  vertical  file.    The 


CLASSIFICATION    AND     CATALOGING  79 

filing  of  these  three  subject  cards  together  instead 
of  in  three  separate  card  catalogs,  namely,  to  books, 
periodicals  and  vertical  file  material,  will  show  at 
once  what  the  library  has  on  that  particular  subject 
with  a  saving  of  time  in  consultation,  as  well  as  elim- 
inating the  risk  of  forgetting  to  look  in  three  sep- 
arate catalogs  when  investigating  a  subject,  and 
avoiding  the  danger  of  mis-filing  a  card  in  a  wrong 
catalog.  If  desired,  references  to  periodical  articles 
and  vertical  file  material  may  be  put  on  colored  cards 
to  show  more  quickly  the  disposition  of  the  material 
in  the  library.  Photographs,  lantern  slides,  cuts  and 
maps  are  best  cared  for  by  a  separate  card  catalog 
to  each  file. 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 
Colegrove,  M.  E.  &  McVety,  M.  A. 

List  of  subject  headings  for  information  file.     Elm  tree 

press,  Woodstock,  Vt.  (Modem  American  library  economy 

series). 
Dana,  J.  C. 

Color  and  position  filing.    Elm  tree  press,  Woodstock,  Vt. 

(Modem  American  library  economy  series). 
Dickey,  P.  A. 

Care  of  pamphlets  and  clippings  in  libraries.    H.  W.  Wil- 
son &  Company,  New  York  City. 
Krause,  L.  B. 

Engineers'  technical   file.     Engineering  record  Dec.   18, 

1915,  p.  760-61. 
Krause,  L.  B. 

Indexing  data  on  stream  flow  and  rainfall.    Engineering 

record  Jan.  31,  1914,  p.  140-41. 
McVety,  M.  A.  &  Colegrove,  M.  E. 

Vertical  file.     Elm  tree  press,  Woodstock,  Vt.    (Modem 

American  library  economy). 
Ovitz,  D.  G. 

The  "Readers'  Guide"  and  the  vertical  file.    H.  W.  Wilson 

Company,  New  York  City. 


CHAPTER  VII 

MECHANICAL  EQUIPMENT  FOR  THE 
BUSINESS  LIBRARY 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  give  an  out- 
line of  the  equipment  required  by  the  business  library 
to  do  its  work  adequately.  Some  business  men  make 
the  mistake  of  thinking  that  the  mechanical  equip- 
ment which  they  purchase  will  make  a  satisfactory 
library,  while  others  put  their  faith  in  employing  a 
librarian  who  they  expect  will  create  library  serv- 
ice with  the  expenditure  of  very  little  money  for 
facilities  and  tools  for  carrying  on  the  work. 

Both  opinions  are  wrong,  for  the  business  library 
needs  adequate  equipment  with  which  to  perform 
acceptable  service  quite  as  much  as  it  does  a  skillful 
librarian. 

Floor  Space  and  Shelving 

No  business  firm  should  consider  establishing 
library  service  unless  it  is  willing  to  provide  suit- 
able space  for  it,  for  the  best  librarian  in  the  country 
cannot  give  satisfactory  service  with  books  and  ma- 
terial scattered  in  various  places,  wedged  in  tightly 
and  stored  on  top  shelves  or  in  storerooms  where 
there  is  not  quick  access  to  them. 

The  writer  knows  of  several  business  firms,  who 
from  lack  of  sufficient  library  space  store  their  per- 
iodicals, and  as  far  as  any  real  use  is  concerned 
they  might  as  well  not  have  them.    Often  the  plea 


MECHANICAL    EQUIPMENT  81 

of  lack  of  floor  space  is  a  superficial  reason  and  only 
indicative  of  the  fact  that  the  firm  is  following  a 
short  sighted  policy  and  has  not  really  waked  up  to 
the  tremendous  value  of  having  such  material  in 
order  and  readily  accessible. 

In  selecting  the  floor  space  for  a  business  library 
a  square  or  oblong  portion  of  space  without  columns 
or  jogs  in  the  walls  is  preferable,  as  it  permits  of  the 
most  economical  arrangement  in  putting  in  the  re- 
quired fixtures.  Good  daylight  is  of  course  most 
desirable  but  if  this  is  not  possible,  care  should  be 
taken  to  have  artificial  light  of  high  grade  which 
can  easily  be  provided  by  a  system  of  indirect  electric 
lighting  supplemented  by  drop  lights  wherever 
necessary. 

The  library  floor  space  should  be  completely 
covered  with  cork  carpet  both  for  cleanliness  and 
quiet,  and  it  should  be  laid  before  any  shelving  is 
set,  in  order  to  avoid  cuts  and  seams  which  catch 
dirt  and  also  look  bad  if  the  carpet  is  laid  after  im- 
movable fittings  have  been  installed. 

In  placing  shelving  for  books,  the  most  econom- 
ical and  compact  arrangement  is  the  stack  plan,  i.e., 
double  faced  bookcases  set  at  right  angles  to  a  wall 
space  and  as  close  together  as  possible,  but  allowing 
ready  access  by  narrow  aisles  not  less  than  thirty 
inches  wide  between  the  tiers.  The  remaining  wall 
space  may  be  utilized  by  vertical  files  or  wall  shelv- 
ing to  supplement  the  capacity  of  the  stack  layout, 
but  no  business  library  of  any  considerable  size 
ishould  be  laid  out  on  the  plan  of  wall  shelving  only, 
as  it  is  a  most  unnecessary  waste  of  space. 


82 


THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 


The  space  assigned  for  the  business  library 
should  be  primarily  selected  to  accomplish  best  the 
work  the  library  is  designed  to  do,  and  this  principle 
is  entirely  compatible  with  a  dignified  and  attractive 


Single   face   unit    wood    shelving    showing    adjustable    features. 
By    courtesy    of    the    Library    Bureau. 


library  layout,  if  it  is  done  by  someone  who  has 
both  a  knowledge  of  the  work  of  the  library  and  of 
the  most  approved  library  equipment. 

Shall  the  library  stack  be  wood  or  metal,  open 
or  enclosed  with  glass,  and  shall  it  have  fixed  or 
adjustable  book  shelves?    Open  metal  stack,  7  feet 


MECHANICAL    EQUIPMENT 


Adjustable  metal  stack,  7  feet  6  inches  in  height,  with  shelves  3  i'eet  long 
and  8  inches  wide.     By  courtesy  of  the  Library  Bureau. 


84  THE     BUSINESS     LIBrArY 

6  inches  in  height,  with  7  adjustable  shelves,  3  feet 
long,  eight  or  10  inches  wide,  in  each  tier,  or  open 
wood  stack  of  the  unit  type,  6  feet  10  inches  high, 
with  adjustable  shelves  are  both  suitable,  with  a 
preference  for  wood,  because  it  ordinarily  costs  less 
and  looks  better  in  a  small  library  room.  Some  bus- 
iness offices  which  have  only  a  few  books  are  using 
wood  bookcase  units  with  sliding  glass  doors.  These 
answer  the  purpose  for  very  small  collections  in  pri- 
vate offices,  but  if  there  is  to  be  any  real  growth  they 
constitute  too  great  an  expense  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  books  shelved,  and  are  not  economical 
in  saving  floor  space.  Even  when  such  wooden  units 
are  placed  together  in  double  stack  form  they  are  not 
comparable  in  economy  with  metal  or  open  wood 
stack  because  they  are  less  durable,  hold  a  less  num- 
ber of  books  per  shelf,  can  not  safely  be  built  up  to 
as  great  a  height  and  do  not  save  space  by  having 
adjustable  shelves  for  books  of  varying  heights. 
Glass  doors  to  bookcases  in  a  live  business  library  are 
a  pest  and  the  only  service  which  they  really  per- 
form in  keeping  out  a  little  dust  does  not  compensate 
for  their  added  expense  especially  when  dust  can 
be  readily  removed  from  open  shelves  by  the  use 
of  a  vacuum  cleaner. 

The  best  method  for  a  business  firm  to  pursue 
in  acquiring  the  most  suitable  and  best  arranged 
shelving  for  a  library  is  to  have  their  librarian  ask 
one  or  two  reputable  firms  making  a  specialty  of 
library  fittings  to  furnish  drawings,  descriptions 
and  prices  of  their  stack,  and  also  make  suggestions 
as  to  its  best  arrangement  in  a  given  floor  space. 


MECHANICAL    EQUIPMENT 


85 


Double   face    unit    wood    shelving,    6    feet    10    inches    high    with    adjustable 
shelves,  3  feet  long  and  8  inches  wide.     By  courtesy  of  the  Library  Bureau. 


86  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

The  trained  librarian  who  has  been  educated  in  the 
details  of  good  and  poor  equipment  and  who  knows 
what  an  adequate  layout  should  be,  will  readily  point 
out  the  merits  and  weaknesses  of  the  specifications 
in  regard  to  standardization,  simplicity  and  price. 
It  is  always  economical  to  equip  even  the  smallest 
business  library  with  a  high  grade  standard  make  of 
shelving,  which  will  never  have  to  be  discarded  as 
the  library  grows,  and  which  can  always  be  matched 
when  additional  shelving  needs  to  be  purchased. 

It  must  be  remembered  also  that  the  business 
library  is  often  not  permanently  located  in  a  particu- 
lar space  because  the  layouts  of  all  offices  of  business 
organizations  are  subject  to  change,  due  to  growth 
in  the  business,  and  therefore  library  shelving  which 
is  well  made,  and  of  standard  parts  and  which  can 
be  moved  readily  as  occasion  demands  is  most  desir- 
able. 

Vertical  Files 

The  floor  space  for  the  business  library  should 
not  only  provide  for  adequate  shelving,  but  should 
allow  for  vertical  files  and  their  growth.  The  value 
of  adequate  vertical  filing  equipment  can  not  be  over- 
estimated, because  so  much  of  the  working  material 
in  the  business  library  must  be  kept  in  vertical  files. 
It  is  essential  that  drawers  move  easily  and  quietly 
and  do  not  get  out  of  order,  as  this  affords  a  great 
saving  in  labor  as  well  as  quick  service  for  the  busy 
man  who  wants  the  contents  at  his  immediate  dis- 
posal. 

There  are  a  large  variety  of  makes  of  vertical 
files  which  are  bewildering  to  the  average  purchaser 


MECHANICAL    EQUIPMENT 


87 


in  their  rival  claims  for  superiority.  What  the  pur- 
chaser needs  as  a  guide  is  not  a  long  list  of  all  the 
makes  of  filing  cabinets  on  the  market  but  a  brief 
comment  on  the  kinds  of  cases  which  are  worth 
while  and  the  reasons  why  they  are  satisfactory. 


9Ji'"  Uirr 


These  four  styles  of  unit  vertical  files  in  wood  are  the  same  height  and 
depth  and  permit  of  additions  by  the  removal  of  the  ends.  They  are  the 
most   suitable  kind  of   files   for  business   library   w^ork. 


In  order  to  allow  for  growth,  filing  cabinets  of 
the  unit  type  only  should  be  considered,  as  this  type 
provides  for  expansion  by  the  addition  of  new  units, 
for  flexibility,  in  that  the  units  may  be  easily  re- 
arranged as  new  units  are  added,  and  for  economy  of 
space  in  that  the  greatest  variety  of  drawers  or 
files  will  occupy  minimum  floor  space. 


88  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRkRY 

There  are  two  kinds  of  unit  filing  cabinets, 
namely,  the  horizontal  type  in  which  cabinets  are 
placed  one  on  top  of  the  other,  with  removable  top, 
and  the  vertical  type  in  which  units  are  placed  side 
by  side,  with  detachable  ends. 

Excellent  illustrations  of  the  various  useful 
combinations  possible  with  both  types  may  be  found 
in  the  trade  catalog  of  the  Library  Bureau,  entitled 
''Unit  Filing  Cabinets  in  Wood." 

The  mechanical  operation  of  all  file  drawers 
should  be  the  best  obtainable.  Trays  should  be  rig- 
idly made  and  yet  light  enough  to  be  easily  handled. 
Vertical  filing  drawers  should  be  mounted  on  roller 
bearing  slides  in  order  that  they  may  run  easily 
when  loaded,  for  as  one  manufacturer  states,  'The 
efficiency  of  every  card  and  filing  system  depends 
directly  on  the  ease  and  precision  of  the  mechanical 
operation." 

If  wood  cabinets  are  selected,  care  should  be 
taken  that  these  are  purchased  from  a  manufacturer 
who  will  guarantee  that  the  woods  used  are  well 
seasoned  and  perfectly  kiln-dried  so  that  there  will 
be  no  shrinking,  swelling  or  warping.  These  are 
necessary  qualifications  which  can  not  be  assured 
when  purchasing  the  lower  priced  cases  on  the  mar- 
ket. 

Wood  cases  are  preferable  to  steel  for  library 
use,  not  only  because  of  the  appearance,  but  also 
because  they  are  less  noisy.  Steel  cabinets,  despite 
the  rubber  protectors  or  buffers  which  do  not  wear 
for  any  length  of  time,  are  noisy.    The  fire  resisting 


MECHANICAL    EQUIPMENT  89 

qualities  of  steel  are  negligible  as  an  argument  for 
their  use  in  the  average  business  library. 

Card  Catalog  Cabinets  and  Cards 

All  card  cabinets  for  library  use  should  be  made 
for  the  standard  centimeter  size  library  catalog  card 
which  is  approximately  3  by  5  inches  and  should  be 
purchased  with  round  rods  to  pass  through  the 
lower  margin  of  the  card,  so  that  the  cards  can  not 
be  accidentally  spilled  out  or  carelessly  removed  and 
misplaced. 

A  good  quality  of  card  should  be  selected,  for  ex- 
perience proves  it  is  a  waste  of  time  and  money  to 
put  permanent  records  on  a  poor  grade  of  cards; 
guides  with  celluloid  tips  are  more  durable  than 
bristle  board  ones. 

The  best  cards  on  the  market  have  both  evenly 
cut  edges  and  sufficient  stiffness  to  permit  rapid 
fingering  and  are  made  of  durable  stock.  These 
points  are  particularly  emphasized  because  one  of  the 
faults  of  many  business  offices  is  the  buying  of  cheap 
card  supplies  without  taking  into  consideration  the 
reason  why  more  expensive  cards  are  really  the  most 
economical. 

No  matter  by  whom  the  equipment  and  supplies 
of  a  business  organization  are  ordered,  the  business 
librarian  should  always  have  the  privilege  of  speci- 
fying grades  and  makes  if  the  best  results  are  to  be 
obtained.  It  is  never  advisable  for  the  sake  of  gen- 
eral office  uniformity  to  force  supplies  upon  the  bus- 
iness library  which  are  not  best  suited  for  its  work, 
and  the  librarian  is  always  the  best  judge  of  the  most 


90  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

suitable  ones  by  reason  of  trained  judgment,  and  ex- 
perience. 

The  ordering  of  books  and  periodicals  should 
always  be  done  by  the  librarian,  who  is  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  publishing  field,  and  under  no 
circumstances  by  the  general  purchasing  department 
of  an  organization. 

A  few  w^ell  known  firms  dealing  I'rt  library  sup- 
plies are  as  follows: 

Democrat  Printing  Co.,  (supplies)  Madison,  Wis. 

Gaylord  Brothers,  (supplies)  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  This 
firm  makes  a  variety  of  pamphlet  binders  which  are  much 
used  by  many  business  libraries  and  are  well  worth  inves- 
tigating. 

Library  Bureau,  (equipment  and  supplies)  New  York 
City,  Chicago  and  branches  in  other  cities. 

Art  Metal  Construction  Co.,  (equipment)  Jamestown, 
N.  Y.  and  branches  in  other  cities. 

Refer  also  to  advertisers  in  the  periodicals,  "Library 
Journal"  and  "Public  Libraries,"  which  may  be  seen  at  the 
Public  Library. 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 
Leffingwell,  W.  H. 

The  office  through  a  microscope.    National  efficiency  quar- 
terly August  1918,  p.  85-111. 

Library  Bureau 

Library  supplies  catalog  no.  L1018. 
Unit  wood  book  shelving  catalog  no.  70314. 
Unit  filing  cabinets  in  wood  catalog  no.  8929. 
Steel  book  stack  catalog  no.  70814. 


CHAPTER   VIII 


REFERENCE  BOOKS  FOR  THE  BUSINESS  LIBRARY 

All  business  organizations,  whether  they  employ 
a  librarian  or  not,  have  need  of  some  reference  books 
for  general  information  as  well  as  for  special  infor- 
mation along  the  lines  of  their  individual  work.  If  a 
librarian  is  not  employed  the  reference  books  are 
not  so  valuable  as  they  might  be,  because  there  is 
generally  no  one  at  hand  so  skilled  in  manipulating 
their  indexes  and  contents,  that  the  exact  informa- 
tion required  is  immediately  forthcoming ;  for  it  is  in 
the  field  of  reference  books  particularly  that  the 
business  librarian  acts  as  ''Open  Sesame"  to  the 
business  man.  The  ability  to  find  information  is  a 
matter  of  training ;  it  does  not  suffice  merely  to  pos- 
sess books  or  to  be  told  of  existing  resources.  This 
truth  was  stated  in  a  homely  fashion  some  time  ago 
by  a  practical  engineering  journal,  which  said: 

"Books  are  just  as  much  engineering  tools  as  wrenches, 
hammers,  or  cold  chisels,  and  it  takes  practice  to  successfully 
manipulate  them.  We  have  all  probably  laughed  at  the  nov- 
ice's first  attempt  to  use  a  monkey  wrench,  a  can  can  be 
just  as  clumsy  with  the  books  that  he  consults  to  assist  him 
in  solving  his  problems.  Just  as  it  took  considerable  time  to 
acquire  skill  in  handling  tools  about  the  plant,  it  also  takes 
a  lot  of  time  to  acquire  the  knack  of  getting  information  out 
of  books,"  or  to  state  the  case  in  the  words  of  the  founder 
of  the  famous  Poole's  index  system,  "The  facile  proficiency  in 
the  use  of  books  does  not  come  by  intuition." 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  make  some 
practical  comments  on  the  best  reference  books  for 


92  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

business  libraries,  from  which  each  individual  busi- 
ness library  can  make  a  selection  according  to  its 
special  needs. 

The  list  aims  to  include  only  such  reference 
books  as  have  been  found  to  be  of  actual  use,  and  to 
exclude  all  references  to  books  which  although  ex- 
cellent in  their  lines,  have  no  place  in  the  work  of 
the  business  library,  and  no  further  apology  will  be 
made  for  their  omission. 

Bibliographies 

No  attempt  is  made  to  describe  bibliographically 
the  books  listed.  This  has  been  well  done  for  most 
of  them  in  Kroeger's  Guide  to  the  Study  of  Refer- 
ence Books,  third  edition,  published  by  the  American 
Library  Association,  78  East  Washington  Street, 
Chicago,  1917,  price  $2.50.  The  few  business  men 
who  have  time  to  give  to  the  detailed  study  of  refer- 
ence books  will  find  this  guide  an  authoritative  trea- 
tise on  the  subject,  and  on  file  at  the  Public  Library. 
Another  useful  aid  in  the  selection  of  books  for  busi- 
ness libraries,  both  reference  books  and  books  on 
general  business  subjects,  is  entitled  1600  Business 
Books,  compiled  by  Sarah  B.  Ball,  second  edition, 
issued  by  the  H.  W.  Wilson  Company,  New  York 
City,  1917,  price  $1.50.  This  volume  is  very  useful 
in  showing  what  literature  is  in  print  on  various 
business  subjects,  but  as  the  entries  are  not  anno- 
tated it  is  not  a  guide  to  the  relative  value  of  the 
books  listed,  but  titles  recommended  for  first  pur- 
chase are  starred  under  the  subject  entry.  The  pub- 
lishers have  announced  that  a  new  edition  of  this 


REFERENCE     BOOKS  98 

work  is  in  preparation  which  will  be  annotated,  and 
which  will  make  it  of  much  more  value  than  it  is  in 
the  present  form. 

Two  excellent  lists  of  worth  while  books  on  busi- 
ness subjects  are  A  Select  List  of  Books  for 
Business  Libraries,  by  Paul  H.  Nystrom  in  "National 
Efficiency  Quarterly,"  May,  1918,  and  A  White  List 
of  Business  Books,  by  John  Cotton  Dana,  printed 
serially  in  "The  Nation's  Business,"  November,  1917- 
July,  1919. 

Selecting  Reference  Books 
In  selecting  reference  books  for  a  business  library 
it  is  wise  to  keep  in  mind  the  following  facts.  It  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  because  a  book  is  printed 
on  a  subject  it  is  therefore  authoritative  and  worth 
while  purchasing.  Examine  and  test  the  credentials 
for  worthiness  of  every  reference  book  carefully.  Even 
the  best  reference  books  fall  down  at  some  point  and 
must  be  used  with  judgment.  No  matter  how  excel- 
lent a  reference  book  appears  to  be  in  its  accuracy 
and  completeness,  remember  it  is  of  no  value  to 
the  business  library  unless  that  library  has  partic- 
ular use  for  it.  It  is  almost  as  serious  a  fault  in 
a  business  library  to  have  more  books  than  are 
needed  as  it  is  to  have  too  few  books  to  meet  the 
needs.  A  good  purchasing  rule  to  follow,  is  to  buy 
only  after  it  has  been  clearly  demonstrated  that  the 
library  has  no  book  which  will  give  certain  infor- 
mation desired,  for  it  has  been  found  that  a  few  well- 
selected  reference  books  will  answer  a  multitude  of 
questions,  and  some  of  the  business  libraries  doing 
the  best  work  have  comparatively  few  working  tools 


94  THE     BUSINESS     LIBrLvRY 

of  this  class.  It  must  be  remembered  also  that  it 
is  not  sufficient  to  buy  a  copy  of  an  annual  publica- 
tion once,  but  that  the  latest  edition  must  be  pur- 
chased each  year  in  order  that  the  information  may 
be  kept  strictly  up  to  date. 

Dictionaries 

The  first  and  foremost  reference  book  which  a 
business  office  needs  is  an  English  dictionary,  foi 
the  men  who  dictate  and  the  stenographers  who 
write  reports  and  letters  must  have  an  authoritative 
source  to  which  they  can  turn  for  definitions,  spell- 
ing, synonyms,  hyphenation  and  pronunciation. 

The  two  best  single  volume  dictionaries,  costing 
about  twelve  dollars  each,  are  the  latest  editions  of 
the  Standard  Dictionary,  published  by  Funk  and 
Wagnalls,  and  Webster's  New  International  Diction- 
ary, published  by  Merriam.  Of  these  two  diction- 
aries the  preference  of  many  scholars  is  for  Webster, 
although  the  Standard  is  considered  most  excellent 
on  present  day  words  and  their  meanings.  One  of 
the  drawbacks  in  using  Webster  hurriedly  is  the 
divided  page.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  page  the 
main  words  of  the  language  are  given,  and  in  the 
lower  part  in  smaller  type  are  given  the  minor  words, 
foreign  phrases  and  abbreviations. 

In  an  office  which  prepares  a  great  deal  of  ad- 
vertising material,  or  "copy"  for  publication,  a  the- 
saurus dictionary  will  be  very  useful.  March's  The- 
saurus Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  Phila- 
delphia Historical  Publishing  Company,  ''designed  to 
suggest    immediately  any  desired   word  to  express 


REFERENCE     BOOKS  95 

exactly  a  given  idea ;  a  dictionary  of  synonyms,  anto- 
nyms, idioms,  foreign  phrases,  pronunciation,  a 
copious  correlation  of  words,"  may  be  purchased  for 
$15.00,  if  an  elaborate  dictionary  of  this  kind  is  to 
be  desired.  Roget's  Thesaurus  of  English  Words  and 
Phrases  may  be  purchased  in  several  editions,  prices 
S1.25  up  to  $2.00. 

The  business  library  will  do  well  to  provide  a 
few  books  on  business  English,  punctuation,  cap- 
italization, abbreviations  and  correspondence  forms, 
a  few  of  which  are  the  following: 

Vizetelly  Desk  Book  of  Errors  in  English,  New  York, 
Funk  &  V^agnalls,  $1.00. 

Putnam's  Correspondence  Handbook,  New  York,  Put- 
nam, $1.75. 

Lewis  Business  English,  Chicago,  LaSalle  Extension 
University,  $1.40. 

Manley  &  Powell  Manual  for  Writers,  University  of 
Chicago  Press,  $1.25. 

University  of  Chicago  Manual  of  Style,  University  of 
Chicago  Press,  $1.50. 

United  States  Public  Printer  Style  Book,  a  compilation 
of  rules  governing  executive,  congressional  and  de- 
partmental printing,  Washington,  Superintendent  of 
Documents,  $0.15. 

If  a  business  library  finds  it  needs  any  foreign 
language  dictionaries,  possibly  French  and  Spanish, 
bilingual  ones  can  be  obtained  in  one  volume  editions 
from  any  first  class  book  dealer  at  a  cost  of  not  more 
than  $3.00  a  volume. 

Encyclopedias 

The  new  edition  of  the  Century  Dictionary  and 
Cyclopedia  is  a  luxury  for  a  business  organization 


96  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY    , 

and  need  not  be  considered  in  this  list,  but  the  busi- 
ness Hbrary  must  have  a  general  encyclopedia,  and 
the  best  one  for  the  American  business  office  is 
without  doubt  the  New  International  Encyclopedia, 
published  by  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company  in  23  vol- 
umes, latest  edition  1916.  Price  bound  in  library 
buckram,  $6.00  per  volume. 

Its  advantages  for  business  use  over  the  new 
edition  of  the  much  recently  advertised  Encyclope- 
dia Britannica,  are  that  the  point  of  view  of  the 
articles  covers  American  needs  better,  that  all  infor- 
mation is  alphabeted  under  the  most  specific  subject 
word,  so  that  no  index  volume  has  to  be  consulted 
as  is  the  case  in  using  the  Britannica,  and  that  there 
are  ample  "see"  references,  if  the  subject  looked  up 
is  entered  under  a  different  terminology. 

In  regard  to  its  authority,  comprehensiveness, 
illustrations,  maps  and  bibliographical  references  at 
the  end  of  the  articles,  the  New  International  ranks 
in  the  first  class  of  encyclopedia  productions.  It  can 
be  purchased  printed  on  the  much  exploited  India 
paper  if  the  saving  of  shelf  space  means  more  to  the 
business  office  than  does  the  rapid  turning  of  leaves. 
The  India  paper  leaves  are  apt  to  stick  together  and 
also  crumple  easily.  The  most  desirable  binding  is 
library  buckram  rather  than  flexible  leather,  which 
some  business  libraries  have  been  unwise  enough  to 
purchase.  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company  also  issue  an 
excellent  annual  encyclopedia  entitled  the  New  Inter- 
national Year  Book,  as  a  supplement  to  the  New 
International  Encyclopedia,  which  brings  the  Ency- 
clopedia down  to  date  at  a  cost  of  $5.00  per  volume. 


REFERENCE     BOOKS  97 

The  World  Almanac  and  Encyclopedia,  published 
for  the  New  York  World  both  in  cloth  and  paper 
binding  at  50  and  35  cents  per  volume,  is  an  invalu- 
able addition  to  the  business  library,  no  matter  how 
well  supplied  it  may  be  with  pretentious  encyclo- 
pedias. It  is  strong  on  statistics  of  all  kinds  which 
are  brought  down  to  date  and  contains  a  wide  range 
of  miscellaneous  information  which  cannot  be  found 
readily  in  more  expensive  handbooks.  It  has  an  ex- 
cellent index  and  is  generally  the  best  book  to  con- 
sult in  a  hurry  in  answering  the  many  miscellaneous 
questions  which  arise  in  a  business  office.  It  has 
been  estimated  that  it  will  answer  25%  of  the 
questions  which  come  up  in  every  day  business  ex- 
perience. 

Lippincott's  New  Gazetteer  of  the  World,  a  geo- 
graphical dictionary,  Philadelphia,  Lippincott,  1906, 
price  $10.00,  is  useful  but  much  out  of  date  in  its 
statistics. 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Do- 
mestic Commerce  publishes  each  year  the  Statistical 
Abstract  of  the  United  States  at  50  cents  per  volume, 
paper  binding,  or  it  may  be  had  in  cloth.  This  ab- 
stract gives  tabulated  statistics  covering  a  number 
of  years  on  the  natural  resources  and  various  eco- 
nomic activities  of  the  United  States.  This  Bureau 
also  publishes  annually  a  valuable  volume  of  statis- 
tics entitled  Foreign  Commerce  and  Navigation  of 
the  United  States,  which  gives  statistics  of  imports 
and  exports  of  different  classes  of  merchandise  with 
rates  of  duty,  quantities  and  value. 


98  THE     BUSINESS     LIBllARY 

For  commercial,  political  and  statistical  infor- 
mation about  foreign  countries  the  Statesman's 
Year  Book,  a  British  publication  issued  annually  by 
Macmillan,  at  $3.50  per  volume,  is  a  valuable  addi- 
tion to  any  business  library.  It  also  gives  a  list  of 
the  best  books  on  each  country  and  its  most  impor- 
tant government  publications,  and  includes  a  list  of 
books  relating  to  the  war  and  a  diary  of  its  principal 
events.  Maps  of  the  different  countries  are  also 
included. 

The  American  Newspaper  Annual,  a  directory 
published  by  Ayer  and  Son,  Philadelphia,  price  $5.00, 
gives  a  list  of  all  newspapers  and  periodicals  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  and  territories,  Canada, 
Cuba,  West  Indies,  arranged  by  states  and  cities, 
with  maps  of  the  states  and  information  about  the 
industries  and  institutions  of  each  city.  It  gives  the 
population  of  cities  and  towns  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  whose  population  is  over  3,000.  It  lists 
all  publications  in  foreign  languages  printed  in  dif- 
ferent states  of  the  United  States  and  also  gives 
a  list  of  trade  papers  for  certain  industries. 

Rand  McNally's  Commercial  Atlas  of  America, 
published  annually,  price  $20.00,  is  the  best  atlas  of 
its  kind  on  the  market  for  a  business  office.  The 
maps  are  indexed,  and  information  on  population, 
express  offices,  United  States  money  order  stations 
and  the  railroads  of  each  town  and  city  are  given. 
This  atlas  has  maps  of  the  largest  cities.  Steamship 
and  interurban  lines  are  also  shown. 

Another  valuable  guide  is  the  Official  Hotel  Red 
Book  and  Directory  of  the  United  States,  Canada, 


REFERENCE     BOOKS  99 

Mexico,  Cuba,  Hawaii,  West  Indies  and  South  Amer- 
ican cities,  published  annually  by  the  Official  Hotel 
Red  Book  and  Directory  Company,  New  York  City, 
price  $3.00.  This  guide  lists  hotels  under  cities  with 
brief  notes  on  accommodations  and  rates. 

The  Official  Guide  of  the  Railways  and  Steam 
Navigation  Lines  of  the  United  States,  Porto  Rico, 
Canada,  Mexico,  Cuba,  also  time  tables  of  railroads 
in  Central  America,  is  published  monthly  by  the 
National  Railway  Publication  Company,  New  York 
City,  $10.00  per  year.  It  gives  the  current  time 
tables  in  effect  and  the  maps  of  the  various  railroads 
with  indexes  of  their  stations,  and  a  general  alpha- 
betical index  of  all  railway  stations  in  the  United 
States,  Canada,  Mexico,  showing  on  what  railroads 
a  given  place  is  located,  with  a  similar  index  for 
points  reached  by  water  routes. 

United.  States  Official  Post  Office  Guide,  issued 
annually  with  eleven  monthly  supplements  at  $1.00 
per  year,  gives  information  about  mail  rates  and  post 
office  rulings,  and  also  gives  a  complete  list  of  the 
post  offices  in  the  United  States. 

The  business  library  will  find  it  helpful  to  ob- 
tain a  single  volume  published  by  the  Census  Bureau 
entitled  Abstract  of  the  Thirteenth  Census  of  the 
United  States,  1910,  which  may  be  procured  from 
the  Superintendent  of  Documents,  Washington,  D.  C, 
at  the  cost  of  $1.00.  This  abstract  gives  in  con- 
densed form  with  explanatory  text,  statistics  to  be 
found  in  the  eleven  volumes  report  of  the  1910  cen- 
sus covering  population,  agriculture,  manufactures 
and  mining  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  indi- 


1 

100  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

vidual  states  and  principal  cities.  This  abstract  vol- 
ume is  issued  in  special  editions  for  each  state  of  the 
United  States,  which  give  special  statistics  pertain- 
ing to  that  state. 

In  regard  to  population  figures,  it  is  probably 
not  generally  known  that  the  Census  Bureau  has 
issued  bulletins  giving  estimates  of  the  population  of 
cities  for  each  year  subsequent  to  1910,  so  that  pop- 
ulation figures  for  1910  need  not  be  considered  as 
the  latest  official  figures  available. 

The  reference  collection  of  a  business  library 
must  be  strong  in  books  which  will  serve  as  direc- 
tories of  persons  and  industries,  in  order  to  answer 
questions  on  "who  is  who"  and  ''where  and  what" 
are  certain  business  organizations.  The  important 
point  for  consideration  in  selecting  directories  for  a 
business  library  is  that  they  must  be  not  only  accu- 
rate but  as  nearly  up-to-date  as  possible,  to  be  of 
real  value. 

Who's  Who  in  America,  a  biographical  diction- 
ary of  notable  living  men  and  women  of  the  United 
States,  giving  brief  biographical  data  and  addresses 
of  over  twenty  thousand  Americans  prominent  in 
business  and  public  affairs,  professional  life,  or  as 
authors,  published  biennially  by  A.  N.  Marquis  and 
Company,  Chicago,  $5.00  per  volume. 

There  are  also  similar  brief  biographical  diction- 
aries published  for  certain  states  and  cities  which 
will  be  well  known  to  the  public  libraries  in  those 
particular  localities,  and  which  will  not  be  listed  here 
as  they  are  not  of  general  interest  to  all  localities; 
for  example,  The  Book  of  Chicagoans,  Who's  Who  in 


REFEJIENCE     BOOKS  101 

New  England,  Directory  6f  Ditectofs  in  tlie  City  of 
New  York. 

Every  business  library  will  need  the  latest  edi- 
tion of  the  Congressional  Directory,  as  all  business 
firms  have  at  some  time  correspondence  with,  or 
need  information  on,  congressmen,  committees,  de- 
partments and  bureaus  of  the  Government,  also 
diplomatic  and  consular  service.  This  volume  may 
be  purchased  from  the  Superintendent  of  Docu- 
ments, Washington,  D.  C,  for  60  cents,  in  cloth 
binding. 

The  membership  lists  of  national  organizations 
representing  different  professions  and  industries  are 
also  very  valuable,  such  as  the  membership  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  and  other  associa- 
tions devoted  to  business  interests  as  well  as  to  pro- 
fessional work.  The  city  directory  and  telephone 
list  of  any  community  must  not  be  forgotten  as  help- 
ful reference  aids,  also  state  gazetteers,  and  the  col- 
lection of  directories  of  various  cities  to  be  found  at 
the  public  library  will  be  found  most  useful. 

G.  P.  Putnam  Sons,  New  York  City,  publish  a 
handbook  called  Directory  of  Mailing  Lists,  Obtain- 
able in  Book  or  Pamphlet  Form,  price  $2.50,  which 
tells  where  printed  mailing  lists  of  certain  industries 
or  classes  of  people  may  be  obtained  free  or  at  a 
reasonable  price. 

Public  Affairs  Information  Service,  a  weekly  or 
bi-monthly  cumulated  service,  according  to  the  needs 
of  subscribers,  and  cumulating  in  an  annual  volume, 
published  by  the  H.  W.  Wilson  Company,  New  York 


102  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRkRY 

City,  is  a  subject  index  to  articles  in  current  period- 
icals, pamphlets  and  books  covering  current  economic 
problems.  Price  upon  application.  It  is  a  valuable 
index  to  consult  at  the  public  library,  as  it  is  too  ex- 
pensive for  the  small  business  library. 

Thomas'  Register  of  American  Manufacturers — 

"first  hands  in  all  lines" — is  an  indispensable  direc- 
tory. It  is  published  annually  by  the  Thomas  Pub- 
lishing Company,  New  York  City,  price  $15.00.  The 
entries  are  in  three  main  sections.  The  first  section 
classifies  the  manufacturers  according  to  their  prod- 
ucts, in  an  alphabetical  subject  list;  the  second  sec- 
tion lists  the  manufacturers  alphabetically  by  their 
names,  gives  addresses,  branch  offices  and  officials 
for  many  of  them;  the  third  section  lists  all  the 
popular  trade  names  alphabetically,  and  there  is  an 
alphabetical  index  of  subjects  at  the  beginning  of 
the  volume,  with  plentiful  cross  references  to  all  the 
subjects  listed  in  section  one. 

The  Reuben  H.  Donnelley  Corporation,  Chicago, 
publish  semi-annuallj^  a  Red  Book  of  classified  ad- 
vertisers, and  which  is  furnished  free  to  any  firm 
who  will  use  it  sufficiently  to  justify  placing  a  copy 
with  them.  It  purposes  to  be  absolutely  up  to  date, 
and  its  second  section  is  arranged  by  states,  thus 
enabling  the  user  to  locate  firms  in  his  immediate 
neighborhood. 

Exporters  and  importers  will  find  most  useful, 
Kelly's  Directory  of  Merchants,  Manufacturers  and 
Shippers  of  the  World,  1919,  Kelly  Publishing  Com- 
pany, 70  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  price  $15.00. 


REFERENCE     BOOKS  103 

The  organization,  personnel  of  management, 
earnings  and  financial  history  of  industrial  corpora- 
tions in  the  United  States  is  given  in  Moody's  Man- 
ual of  Industrials,  which  is  one  of  a  trilogy  costing 
?40.00  per  annum,  published  annually  by  Poor's  Pub- 
lishing Company,  New  York  City.  The  other  two 
volumes  are  entitled  Moody's  Manual  of  Public  Util- 
ities and  Poor's  Manual  of  Railroads. 

Moody's  Analyses  of  Public  Utilities  and  Indus- 
trials, and  Moody's  Analyses  of  Railroad  Invest- 
ments cover  much  the  same  ground  as  the  manuals 
just  noted  with  the  addition  of  ratings.  They  are 
published  by  John  Moody,  35  Nassau  street.  New 
York  City. 

The  Manual  of  Statistics  Stock  Exchange  Hand- 
book, similar  in  contents  to  the  Poor  &  Moody  vol- 
umes but  not  as  full,  is  published  annually  by  The 
Manual  Statistics  Company,  New  York  City,  at  $5.00 
per  volume. 

Investment  Bankers  and  Brokers  of  America, 
issued  annually  by  H.  W.  Sites,  80  Lafayette  Street, 
New  York  City,  $10.00  per  volume,  is  a  useful  direc- 
tory to  be  used  to  supplement  Rand  McNally  Bank- 
ers' Directory,  issued  semi-  annually  in  January  and 
July,  Chicago,  price  $6.00  per  volume,  or  the  Bankers' 
Encyclopedia,  issued  semi-annually  in  March  and 
September,  New  York,  price  $8.00  per  volume. 

For  the  business  firm  who  wishes  to  keep  up  to 
the  minute  on  the  latest  information  of  what  is 
going  on  in  the  world  as  affecting  trade  and  finance, 
the  Standard  Statistics  Company,  47  West  street, 
New  York  City,  issues  Standard  Daily  Trade  Service 


104  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

at  a  cost  of  $120.00  per  year,  which  delivers  each 
morning  by  first  class  mail  a  conveniently  indexed 
and  itemized  digest  of  the  important  news  regarding 
crops,  commodities,  countries,  legislation,  taxation. 
Federal  trade  regulation,  transportation,  etc.,  and  in 
addition  gives  the  subscriber  the  benefit  of  a  Per- 
sonal Service  department  for  special  information  of 
value  to  him  individually  which  does  not  appear  on 
the  daily  report  sheet. 

In  addition  to  the  Daily  Trade  Service,  the 
Standard  Statistics  Company  also  issues  a  similar 
daily  service  entitled  Corporation  News  Service, 
which  summarizes  all  the  corporation  news  of  the 
country.  It  also  issues  a  Corporation  Card  and  Bond 
Card  Sei-vice  which  furnish  daily  revised  card  de- 
scriptions of  corporations  and  bond  issues. 

The  Federal  Trade  Information  Service,  31  Nas- 
sau street,  New  York  City,  is  similar  in  frequency 
and  form  of  issue  to  the  standard  Daily  Trade  Serv- 
ice but  is  not  as  comprehensive  in  scope,  as  it  covers 
only  the  activities  of  the  Federal  Government. 

There  is  scarcely  any  industry  which  has  not 
put  out  a  reference  handbook  or  directory  covering 
its  special  field,  and  it  is  impossible  in  a  brief  treatise 
to  list  all  of  the  reference  books  which  pertain  to  a 
large  number  of  industries.  The  best  printed  list 
from  which  to  determine  what  directories  and  hand- 
books have  been  issued  for  certain  industries  is 
1600  Business  Books,  which  has  been  previously 
noted.  Consult  also  the  trade  journals,  and  above 
all,  do  not  forget  to  use  the  reference  facilities  to  be 
found  at  the  public  library. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  ESSENTIAL  QUALIFICATIONS   OF  THE 
BUSINESS  LIBRARIAN 

Thoug-htful  consideration  of  what  the  busin^ess 
library  does  will  inevitably  lead  to  one  conclusion, 
namely,  that  the  librarian,  who  is  the  director  and 
inspiration  of  the  work,  must  have  greater  educa- 
tional qualifications  than  can  be  found  in  the  average 
office  employe  who  is  engaged  either  in  the  capacity 
of  stenographer  or  file  clerk.  The  qualifications 
which  are  necessary  to  make  a  successful  business 
librarian  may  be  definitely  stated  as  follows: 

1.  A  college  education  or  its  equivalent. 

2.  A  library  school  education  or  its  equivalent. 

3.  Certain  innate  mental  and  social  traits. 

4.  The  business  man's  point  of  view. 

1.  A  College  Education  or  Its  Equivalent 

The  business  librarian,  no  matter  how  well  edu- 
cated, will  never  have  a  superabundance  of  knowl- 
edge for  the  prosecution  of  the  task,  for  the  ramifi- 
cations of  business  subjects  are  innumerable  and 
touch  the  sum  total  of  human  knowledge ;  and  while 
no  one  person, can  be  master  of  all  subjects,  yet  a 
college  education,  and  the  mental  training  which  it 
implies,  should  give  not  only  a  wider  knowledge,  but 
a  power  of  adaptability  and  versatility  in  working 


106  THE     BUSINESS     LIBrIrY 

with  information,  which  constitute  an  indispensable 
asset  in  the  prosecution  of  business  Hbrary  work. 

The  type  of  college  graduate  who  makes  the 
best  business  librarian  is  the  one  who  is  able  to 
exercise  a  high  degree  of  concentration,  think  clearly 
and  quickly,  analyze  subjects,  understand  cause  and 
effects,  make  logical  deductions  and  wise  discrimina- 
tions, express  ideas  clearly  and  to  the  point,  and  be 
able  to  discuss  intelligently  the  information  which 
he  passes  along  to  the  business  man. 

It  is  only  just  to  state  at  this  point  that  some 
college  graduates  do  not  measure  up  to  the.  stand- 
ards which  have  been  indicated,  and  that  there  are 
many  well-educated  men  and  women  without  college 
degrees  who  do ;  every  man  or  woman  must  be  judged 
on  the  basis  of  individual  merit.  A  business  organi- 
zation, however,  can  make  no  more  serious  mistake 
than  to  think  it  can  put  its  library  work  into  the 
hands  of  some  one  of  limited  education,  who, 
although  he  knows  the  work  of  the  particular  busi- 
ness by  long  apprenticeship,  has  not  the  important 
requisite  of  a  larger  point  of  view  which  is  the  result 
of  a  broad  education,  no  matter  by  what  means 
obtained. 

W.  H.  Cameron,  when  general  manager  of  the 
National  Safety  Council,  writing  of  library  work  as 
an  aid  to  that  organization,  stated  the  facts  exactly 
when  he  said:  ''The  problem  of  the  industry,  the 
application  of  the  library's  information,  the  method 
of  presentation  and  the  utility  of  the  service,  all 
require  trained  minds." 


QUALIFICATIONS     OF     LIBRARIAN  107 

2.  A  Library  School  Education  or  Its  Equivalent 

A  liberal  education,  however,  is  not  sufficient  in^ 
itself  to  make  a  business  librarian,  unless  that  edu- 
cation has  included  the  second  requisite  in  the  list  of 
qualifications,  namely,  education  in  approved  meth- 
ods of  library  science,  according  to  the  standards 
taught  by  accredited  library  schools. 

What  is  meant  by  library  science,  and  why  is  it 
necessary  that  a  business  librarian  should  be  trained 
in  it,  in  order  to  do  adequately  the  work  of  the  busi- 
ness library?  Library  science  is  the  standardization 
of  the  most  approved  methods  of  doing  library  work, 
based  on  the  results  of  many  years  of  study  and 
practical  experiment  by  librarians  of  large  ability 
who  have  given  their  full  time  and  energies  to  the 
task.  In  brief,  methods  of  library  work  have  been 
standardized  by  library  experts  and  reduced  to  a 
practical,  economical,  effective  science. 

If  this  be  the  case,  what  possible  justification 
can  be  found  for  business  firms  who  waste  time  and 
money,  in  addition  to  getting  no  adequate  results, 
in  devising  original  methods  for  doing  their  library 
work?  Trade  periodicals,  for  several  years,  have 
published  a  number  of  articles  treating  of  original 
methods  adopted  by  various  firms  for  filing  arid 
indexing  their  printed  information.  These  original 
schemes  reveal  many  weaknesses  and  discrepancies 
and  also  that  many  business  men  are  entirely  igno- 
rant of  the  fact  that  library  science  has  already  pro- 
duced much  more  excellent  ways  of  working.  No 
man  is  competent  to  work  with  any  principle  of  sci- 


108  THE    BUSINESS    LIBRARY 

ence,  much  less  modify  it,  until  he  is  first  master 
of  it. 

The  structure  of  the  business  library  must  be 
built  on  the  solid  foundation  of  established  library 
science,  and  there  is  no  fact  which  business  men 
need  to  realize  more,  than  that  library  science  as 
taught  in  professional  library  schools  is  not  a  simple 
code  summed  up  in  a  few  text  books  to  be  readily 
mastered  by  a  novice  and  improved  upon  at  will,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  that  it  covers  a  wide  range  of  ma- 
terial, and  must  be  studied  by  the  use  of  many  books 
devoted  to  classification,  cataloging,  reference  work 
and  other  related  subjects.  True,  there  are  primers 
of  library  science,  but  as  well  give  a  novice  a  primer 
on  the  steam  engine  and  expect  him  therefore  to  be 
adequately  equipped  to  run  a  power  plant,  as  to  put 
a  novice  with  a  library  primer  in  charge  of  a  business 
library  with  its  highly  specialized  needs.  A  business 
organization  would  not  think  of  engaging  either  a 
stenographer  or  a  bookkeeper  who  is  not  trained  to 
do  his  particular  work;  how  much  more,  therefore, 
should  a  business  librarian  measure  up  to  recognized 
standards  of  library  training  in  order  to  perform 
adequately  the  difficult  and  important  work  which 
he  is  called  upon  to  do. 

The  argument  for  the  employment  of  a  trained 
librarian  can  be  briefly  summed  up  in  five  words: 
the  trained  librarian  knows  how. 

The  trained  librarian  knows  how  to  get  and  how 
to  use  sources  of  general  information,  how  to  keep 
up  with  the  latest  data  on  business  subjects,  how  to 
use  quickly  and  accurately  the  facilities  of  large  city 


QUALIBICATIONS     OF     LIBRARIAN  109 

libraries,  how  to  use  all  kinds  of  printed  indexes, 
how  to  classify,  catalog,  and  index  material  accord- 
ing to  standard  practice,  so  that  no  time  or  money  is 
wasted  in  experimenting  with  inadequate  systems, 
and  last  but  not  least,  knows  how  to  have  a  place 
for  everything  and  everything  in  its  place,  so  that 
desired  information  is  immediately  available. 

As  has  been  intimated,  some  college  graduates 
cannot  grade  up  to  business  library  requirements, 
so  also,  some  library  school  graduates  are  not  suited 
for  business  library  work,  and  rarely  is  a  library 
school  graduate,  who  has  not  been  seasoned  first  by 
some  thorough  library  experience,  before  coming 
into  business  library  work,  fitted  for  the  task.  Some 
trained  librarians  get  so  obsessed  with  the  red  tape 
and  detail  of  their  library  training  that  they  never 
dare  to  be  original  in  modifying  and  adapting  their 
fundamental  library  principles  to  new  conditions  and 
business  problems,  and  therefore  cannot  create  the 
type  of  service  which  is  essential  for  business. 

Some  of  the  advocates  of  business  libraries,  hav- 
ing seen  library  trained  people  who  have  * 'fallen 
down  on  the  job,"  speak  slightingly  of  library  train- 
ing, and  go  to  the  other  extreme,  saying  that  the 
successful  business  librarian  is  born  and  not  made. 
This  is  not  true,  because  no  innate  qualification  ever 
carries  with  it  the  ability  to  succeed  in  the  absence 
of  the  proper  training.  **Both  the  heritage  and  the 
training  of  the  faculties  must  go  hand  in  hand  to 
insure  success."  Trained  librarians  should  be  esti- 
mated by  business  men  in  the  same  manner  as  they 
estimate  other  skilled  workers.    When  an  engineer. 


110  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

or  in  fact  any  professional  man,  fails  on  a  piece  of 
work,  his  employers  do  not  condemn  engineering  or 
professional  schools  as  a  whole,  but  try  another 
trained  man  on  the  job.  If  a  business  man  has  made 
a  wrong  estimate  in  selecting  his  librarian,  he  should 
not  quarrel  with  library  training,  but  get  a  higher 
grade  librarian. 

The  failure  of  some  business  librarians  who 
have  had  both  college  education  and  training  in 
library  science  is  due  not  to  inadequate  knowledge 
but  to  lack  of  personal  qualifications,  and  while  per- 
sonal qualifications  alone  will  not  make  a  successful 
business  librarian,  neither  will  a  college  education 
and  training  in  library  science  make  a  successful 
business  librarian  without  certain  innate  mental  and 
social  traits. 

3.  Mental  and  Social  Traits 

The  mental  and  social  traits  required  for  success 
in  any  line  of  business  work  apply  with  equal  force 
to  the  business  librarian,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to 
enter  into  any  academic  discussion  of  them  at  this 
time.  Everyone  knows  that  good  health,  accuracy, 
thoroughness,  common  sense,  good  judgment,  tact, 
integrity  of  character,  and  memory  (particularly  in 
library  work)  are  indispensable  to  success  in  any 
career,  but  there  are  certain  traits  which  a  long  term 
of  service  in  a  business  library  and  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  many  business  librarians  have  made 
clear  to  the  writer,  as  necessary  to  success  in  the 
business  of  being  a  business  librarian. 

The  business  librarian  must  be  an  executive ;  he 
must  have  not  only  a  balanced  view  of  every  detail 


QUALIFICATIONS     OF     LIBRARIAN  111 

of  library  work  in  relation  to  its  particular  whole, 
but  he  must  especially  have  an  adequate  vision  of 
library  work  in  relation  to.  the  whole  work  of  his 
organization,  and  he  must  have  the  ability  to  see 
this  relationship  without  waiting  for  some  one  to 
point  it  out  to  him.  Finally,  he  must  be  able  to 
relate  the  particular  business  and  its  existing  serv- 
ice, to  the  work  of  the  world  at  large. 

A  librarian  serving  a  prominent  business  organ- 
ization was  recently  asked  by  the  writer,  what  was 
the  scope  of  the  work  of  their  publicity  department 
in  furthering  the  interests  of  the  organization  as  a 
whole,  with  the  result  that  she  could  not  tell.  This 
librarian  only  knew  that  her  business  was  to  catalog, 
classify,  put  away  and  be  able  to  get  out  again  the 
material  which  was  assigned  to  her  care.  The  execu- 
tive head  of  another  important  business  organization 
has  often  complained  because  his  librarian  was  afraid 
to  take  any  initiative  and  always  waited  to  be  told 
what  detailed  policy  should  be  pursued  by  the 
library;  he  was  too  busy  to  have  to  carry  it  on  his 
mind,  and  more  than  that,  he  really  did  not  know, 
and  needed  a.  librarian  who  did. 

The  business  librarian  must  see  the  need,  make 
the  plan,  and  get  all  the  mechanism  necessary  for 
its  accomplishment  into  thorough  working  order,  and 
have  backbone  enough  to  hold  the  point  and  have 
power  to  make  others  see  it.  There  is  no  place  in 
a  business  library  for  the  mere  ''bookkeeping"  meth- 
ods of  a  recorded  and  finished  job,  for  the  work  of 
the  business  library  is  never  finished;  it  is  a  living 
force,  and  like  all  living  things,  it  is  subject  to  con- 


112  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

stant  change  and  progress  and  never  gets  to  the 
finished  stage  which  suggests  the  orderly  quiet  calm 
of  a  graveyard! 

What  the  business  man  wants  from  his  librarian 
is  results,  and  it  is  the  business  of  the  librarian  to 
know  the  best  way  of  getting  them.  The  well  quali- 
fied librarian  can  give  results  abundantly,  if  the  busi- 
ness man  will  delegate  authority  to  act  independently 
in  matters  of  detail,  conferring  on  his  librarian  as 
he  should,  the  freedom  of  action  which  he  gives  to 
the  well  qualified  head  of  any  department,  and  trust- 
ing his  librarian  to  come  to  him  for  a  conference 
when  the  occasion  demands.  There  is  no  greater 
handicap  to  a  well  qualified  librarian  than  the  type 
of  business  man  who  does  not  delegate  authority, 
and  who  because  of  his  success  in  other  lines  of  busi- 
ness, attempts  to  guide  his  librarian  in  matters  of 
library  policy  about  which  he  knows  absolutely 
nothing. 

The  business  librarian  must  be  unusually  re- 
sourceful and  know  how  to  meet  an  urgent  need  for 
information  with  quick  decision  and  immediate 
action.  He  never  says  "impossible"  until  he  has  tried 
every  possible  source  of  supply. 

Probably  one  of  the  finest  compliments  ever 
paid  a  business  librarian  was  given  by  the  executive 
head  of  a  large  institution  who,  having  seen  the 
resourcefulness  of  a  certain  business  librarian  in 
several  difficult  situations,  remarked,  "I  am  confident 
that  if  a  twenty-story  building  fell  down  on  Miss 

B ,  she  would  find  a  way  to  get  out  from  under 

it,"  and  he  might  also  have  added  truthfully,  ''and 


QUALIFICATIONS     OF     LIBRARIAN  113 

she  would  also  keep  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm  in  the 
venture,"  for  to  the  true  business  librarian  the  fas- 
cination in  the  game  of  finding  things  never  wears 
out. 

The  business  librarian  will  not  be  punctilious 
about  adhering  to  a  time  schedule  for  work  or  to  any- 
standard  of  rights  or  privileges;  he  will  put  the 
demand  of  his  work  first  and  his  personal  interests 
second.  If  it  is  necessary  to  break  an  important 
personal  engagement  made  for  his  free  time,  because 
business  of  importance  has  arisen  in  the  office,  he 
will  do  so  without  any  question  or  irritation.  If  he 
can  best  serve  the  company  in  an  urgent  need,  he 
will  not  wait  to  be  waited  upon  by  an  office  boy,  but 
will  go  himself  rather  than  trust  a  boy  who  cannot 
be  relied  upon  to  hurry.  The  business  librarian  will 
not  be  old-maidish  or  fussy  over  any  irregular  de- 
mands which  upset  his  routine  work;  there  is  no 
place  in  business  for  the  trained  librarian  who  tells 
a  busy  man  of  affairs  he  cannot  have  what  he  wants 
until  certain  regular  routine  has  been  carried  out, 
and  in  return  the  business  man  should  trust  his 
librarian  with  a  freedom  of  action  which  is  not  sub- 
ject to  a  time  clock  or  a  time  schedule. 

The  business  librarian  must  be  able  to  work 
harmoniously  with  "all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men," 
and  he  must  convince  every  one  whom  the  business 
library  serves  of  honest  good-will  and  impartiality  to 
all,  and  genuine  loyalty  to  the  organization  which  he 
serves.  He  will  be  discreet  and  will  not  gossip  about 
company  business  on  the  aside  in  the  office,  or  on 
the  outside,  and  last  but  not  least,  he  ought  to  have 


H4  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

a  saving  sense  of  humor.  These  qualifications  may 
seem  exceedingly  trite,  but  the  lack  of  them  has 
been  a  severe  handicap  and  a  glaring  defect  in  many 
people  filling  different  kinds  of  business  positions. 

The  successful  business  man  knows  the  value 
and  power  of  acquaintance  as  a  business  asset,  and 
the  business  librarian  must  maintain  a  wide  ac- 
quamtance  and  friendly  relationships  with  other 
library  and  business  workers,  both  for  practical  help 
and  general  stimulation.  It  is  a  real  part  of  the  work 
of  a  business  librarian  to  take  time  to  cultivate  these 
outside  relationships  and  attend  library  conferences, 
at  the  expense  of  the  business  organization  by  which 
he  is  employed.  The  importance  of  these  outside 
i^lationships  has  been  noted  in  the  first  chapter,  as 
helpful  ways  of  getting  information  not  in  print. 

The  business  man  who  keeps  his  librarian's  nose 
on  the  grindstone  of  routine  work,  so  that  he  never 
has  an  opportunity  for  outside  fellowship  and  the 
stimulation  that  comes  from  it,  soon  loses  more  than 
he  gains  by  such  a  policy. 

4.  The  Business  Man's  Point  of  View 

The  business  librarian  must  also  have  a  genuine 
and  intelligent  interest  in  current  political  and  eco- 
nomic events,  arid  in  the  kind  of  information  in 
which  business  men  as  a  class  are  interested.  He 
must  know  the  contents  of  the  daily  newspaper  as 
well  as  does  the  closest  reader  among  business  men, 
so  that  he  will  not  do  as  one  librarian  did— endeavor 
to  give  an  inquirer  an  item  three  weeks  old  when  the 
latest  news  on  the  subject  was  in  the  yesterday 


QUALIFICATIONS     OF     LIBRARIAN  115 

morning's  paper,  or  waste  time  looking  up  statistics 
on  a  South  American  town,  which  current  news 
reports  as  having  recently  burnt  down.  He  must  be 
a  constant  and  thoughtful  reader  on  subjects  which 
pertain  to  the  business  of  his  organization. 

The  business  librarian  must  have  the  promoter 
spirit;  he  must  see  that  the  information  which  he 
has  on  hand  is  applied  and  working,  and  he  must 
be  alert  enough  to  see  in  some  measure  the  undevel- 
oped sides  of  an  industry,  and  endeavor  to  bring  into 
the  organization,  information  which  may  stimulate  it 
to  new  activities. 

To  sum  up  all  requirements  for  a  successful  busi- 
ness librarian:  he  (or  she,  as  the  case  may  be)  must 
have  a  liberal  education,  plus  a  knowledge  of  library 
science,  and  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  business 
needs,  together  with  the  vision  and  personal  power 
necessary  to  apply  the  field  of  print  effectively  in 
meeting  these  needs. 

In  conclusion,  the  business  man  must  face  fairly 
several  facts,  the  chief  of  which  is,  that  in  only  a 
limited  number  of  cases  have  business  libraries 
measured  up  to  the  standards  which  have  been  oiit- 
lined  in  this  handbook,  because  business  firms  have 
not  engaged  librarians  who  have  the  necessary  quali- 
fications for  success.  Some  business  men  have  not 
recognized  that  there  are  librarians  and  librarians, 
and  that  many  so-called  ones  are  not  adequately 
equipped  for  business  library  work.  Business  men 
are  at  fault  also  because  they  often  do  not  give  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  selection  of  a  librarian,  but 
leave  this  selection  to  an  employment  manager  or  a 


116  THE     BUSINESS     LIBRARY 

welfare  worker  who  very  often  does  not  know  just 
what  essential  qualifications  are  necessary  for  such  a 
position.  Sometimes  the  business  man  does  not  want 
to  pay  the  price  for  an  efficient  librarian,  for  no 
efficient  librarian  can  be  obtained  for  the  average 
file  clerk  or  stenographer  salary.  One  high  grade 
librarian  will  accomplish  more  work,  both  accurately 
and  effectively,  than  two  mediocre  ones  can  possibly 
do,  and  is  therefore  a  money-saver. 

If  there  is  any  doubt  in  the  business  man's  mind 
as  to  whether  there  is  enough  library  work  in  his 
organization  to  keep  a  trained  librarian  continuously 
busy,  it  may  be  said,  that  in  no  instance  which  has 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  writer,  has  a  trained 
librarian  ever  been  employed  by  a  business  organiza- 
tion which  has  not  found  there  was  immediately  de- 
veloped a  valuable  library  service  which  required  the 
full  time  and  energy  of  the  librarian. 

REFERENCES    FOR    ADDITIONAL    READING 
Brush,  M.  C. 

The  so-called   librarian's   real   duties.     Special   libraries, 

June  1917,  p.  83-84. 
Greer,  A.  F.  P. 

Professional    ethics    for    the    library    worker.     Library 

journal  Nov.   1917,  p.  891-92. 
Kilduff,  E.  J. 

Necessary  characteristics  of  the  private  secretary.     (In 

his  Private  secretary  p.  293-17). 
Rathbone,  J.  A. 

Library  school  courses  as  training  for  business  librarians. 

Special  libraries  Nov.  1917,  p.  133-35. 
Walter,  F.  K. 

Trailing  librarians  for  business   libraries   or  branches. 

Paper  read  before  Professional  training  section  American 

library  association  conference  1919.  Library  journal  Sept. 

1919,  p.  578-80. 


INDEX 


Alphabetic-subject  file,  73. 

Catalog  cabinets,  89. 

Cataloging,  75. 

Centralization,  11. 

Charging    records    see    Loan 
records. 

Classification,  70. 

Clipping  bureaus,  48. 

Corporation  files,  75. 

Cutter  numbers,  74. 

Cuts,  68. 

Equipment  and  supplies,  90. 

Government  documents,  50. 

Indexing  see  Cataloging. 

Lantern  slides,  65. 

Loan  records,  39. 

Magazines  see  Periodicals. 

Maps,  68. 

Mechanical  equipment,  80. 

Organization,  7. 

Pamphlet  boxes,  44. 


Periodicals, 

binding,  41. 

checking,  33. 

circulation,  37. 

clipping,  43,  46. 

contents,  31. 

filing,  41. 

indexing,  35. 

selection,  32. 
Photographs,  62. 
Public  libraries  vs.   business 

libraries,  14. 
Publicity  department,  25. 
Qualifications    of    business 

librarian,  105. 
Reference  books,  91. 
Service  rendered,  23. 
Shelving,  80. 
State  documents,  57. 
Subject  headings,  76. 
Trade  catalogs,  59. 
U-File-M  binder  strips,  48. 
Value  of  the  business  library, 

18. 
Vertical  files,  86. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

^LlB}^\V\    :;CfiuOL   LIBRARY 


NOV  2-0  19 

MAR  2 7  1962 

OCT  2  0  1963 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CAUFORNIA  LIBRARY 


